


Five Hours

by hinata22



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, Making Up, Miscommunication
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-02-28 22:13:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 52,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13280919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hinata22/pseuds/hinata22
Summary: Sasuke and Naruto's marriage has reached such a point of disaster that they haven't spoken to each other for six months. But with Itachi's intervention they agree to try counselling before they file for divorce. But will they be able to find any counsellor  able to deal with their combined bickering, stubborn silences, and reluctance to admit that they still love each other?





	1. The First Hour

**Author's Note:**

> This is an idea I've been mulling over for a long time, if it goes to plan it won't be too long, but my stories often don't go to plan! I'm imagining Sasuke and Naruto in a kind of opposites attract scenario where their frequent clashes have reached breaking point but in their hearts they both want to be reunited.  
> This is just a general introduction and more should be revealed about how they work together in later chapters, there will probably be some lemony goodness, but I suspect it won't turn into a story to read for the heat factor.  
> Thank you so much for taking a chance and reading this first chapter, I really love any feedback as it is always inspiring. Well aside from that weird person who likes leaving insults on every gay story...what's up with that? Maybe a question for another time. Right now, I just hope that you enjoy the set up of this story x

**Naruto**

Naruto rose off the bike’s saddle and his legs started pumping up the hill; his body automatically adjusting to the steep incline, while his mind barely noticed the change. All his focus was on his destination. He hadn’t seen his husband for six months, but today he was going to be shut up in a room with him and a relationship counsellor for an hour.

His heart thumped, not with the physical exertion, but from the turmoil of his emotions. If he hadn’t promised Kiba he’d go through with this, he knew he would bail. The idea of seeing Sasuke was stomach turning enough, but to meet him after so long in the presence of a stranger with the express purpose of dissecting everything wrong with their partnership, was like willingly walking into an actual nightmare.

But that was what, he had agreed to. It turned out that as much as the Uchihas had hated their line being tainted by a gay marriage, they hated the implied failure of divorce even more. For a boy who had been orphaned on his first day of life and had grown up with no living relatives, he wasn’t ashamed to admit that he found the Uchiha clan intimidating. However, he had held out against every single one of them (and their legal team) variously ordering, pleading, threatening, reasoning and shouting at him to return to his husband. Until Itachi had finally returned from whatever secret Uchiha business he’d been away on. There had been no judgement in his dark eyes, he had simply offered Naruto a deal: if Naruto attended five counselling sessions with Sasuke, Itachi would bypass the pre-nup Naruto had signed and ensure that Naruto got a very generous divorce settlement. If it had been anyone else, Naruto wouldn’t have trusted them, but there was a rare sense of honour to Itachi that Naruto innately believed in.

For himself, he cared nothing for the money, he had scraped by all his life before meeting Sasuke, and he was managing now they were separated. He just wanted everything over. But as Kiba pointed out, they would never have an opportunity for this much cash again, and they could do so much good with it. Five hours for an incredible financial pay out, only an idiot would refuse it.

However, as Sasuke had told him many times, Naruto was an idiot. Even with the guilt of losing the money for his and Kiba’s work, Naruto had asked Itachi if he could just have the divorce with the pre-nup kept and skip the counselling. But that apparently wasn’t an option, so here he was, cycling to some sort of fancy named therapy clinic in the fashionable part of the city he never went near anymore, and really didn’t want to go to today.

Naruto steered without thinking around the puddles that scattered the roads, it was dry now, but had rained heavily in the night.

He gritted his teeth, whatever he was feeling he would do this properly with his full commitment and energy. He would answer every question fully, however embarrassing and humiliating, and he would try to keep an open mind and accept any help the professionals could offer. Once it started, he would not view this as a means for a divorce, but work as hard as he could to have faith in a possible reconciliation. His breath caught at the thought.

Did it matter how Naruto approached the counselling, when he knew that Sasuke would only be there because Itachi had asked him, rather than from any wish to sort things out with his husband? With all the Uchihas and hangers on that had contacted him since the split, he hadn’t heard one thing from his actual husband; no text, no e-mail, no phone call, no letter, no scribbled memo on a post it note. Nothing. But however arrogant and indifferent Sasuke was to everyone’s feelings, including the man he had once planned to grow old with, the younger Uchiha still secretly hero-worshipped his older brother.

But even if his husband was just there because of a deep fraternal bond, Naruto had to keep hope in his heart for as long as the process lasted. It had always been his way to give his whole soul to things, and this would be no different, no matter if the reason he’d agreed to it was to get an easier divorce.

With his mind focused on the counselling, Naruto’s attention was distracted. He didn’t expect a car to be coming on the empty road, and he didn’t hear it, until it sped around the bend and almost ploughed into him. The blonde had no idea how he swerved quick enough out of its path. For a micro second it was as if he was superpowered and imbued with lightening speed. The driver didn’t stop, and by the time Naruto had recovered enough to yell every curse word he knew, the car was long gone. He had no chance to get the number plate, and was not good enough with his makes of cars, to identify it as anything beyond red and ‘flashy’. Not that the police would do anything if he’d been calm enough to memorise every single detail and report it for dangerous driving. Now that it was known he was separated from the Uchihas’ power, he was just another protesting nuisance and someone they arrested rather than helped. But still, it might have made him feel a little better to be able to pretend he could cause some hassle to the person who had almost killed him.

He couldn’t though. So he let it mentally go. When his heart stopped racing, he took a few deep breaths and resumed his journey. This time thinking about nothing but the road.

 

He arrived at the address and was surprised to see that his hands were shaking. He wanted to just throw his bike down and get into the building and sit down. But however unlikely it was that someone who lived in this rich neighbourhood would want to steal his bike, Naruto couldn’t afford to risk it. He moved steadily and calmly, finding somewhere to chain his bike up just a few yards away, and removed the wheel like he always did. Then he walked with a forced confidence to the building.

Maybe the story of almost dying would be something to break the ice with his estranged husband? Sasuke had always been unbelievably protective. Naruto allowed himself a wicked smile thinking about what Sasuke would have done to anyone who’d almost knocked Naruto off his bike when they were together.

Then he saw parked outside the _Yamanaka Centre of Mental Exploration and Harmony_ , a red flashy car. Leaning against the red flashy car was a man with an incredibly expensive and trendy spiky haircut, holding a cigarette in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.

Their eyes met and Naruto’s mouth went dry.

‘I’m glad to see you’re dressed for scrubbing drains and you’ve made no effort to impress me today. It’s a relief to know you’re only here because of the money Itachi promised you, and have no ridiculous expectations that I’d want you back.’ Sasuke took a long drag of his cigarette.

Naruto looked self consciously down at his clothes. He was wearing his best jeans and hoodie, but they were now covered in mud. That wasn’t his fault though, that was from the car forcing him to swerve into the verge. Not just any car either. Sasuke was the one who nearly killed him, and the bastard was daring to stand there judging him for his clothes not being smart enough!

Naruto made a low growling noise at the back of his throat.

‘I trust you don’t plan to take the bike wheel into the session with you? It’s embarrassing enough having to go through this, without the further humiliation of my ex looking like a tramp.’

Naruto remained still for a moment, scared that his limbs would start trembling again. When he felt in control, he strode forward, snarling as he passed Sasuke, _‘_ I’m playing my part well, wasn’t I always supposed to be no more than your bit of rough?’

 

Naruto held onto his anger and used it to overcome his self-consciousness. It would take quite a feat of imagination to call Naruto shy or lacking in confidence, but as he walked through the plush minimally decorated spaces trying to find out where he was supposed to be, a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Sasuke’s, repeated, ‘You don’t belong here, you’re nothing.’

Eventually he found himself alone sitting in a huge room on an oversized sofa with a small coffee table in front of him. Unaware what he was doing, he whistled tunelessly and tapped his fingers and feet nervously. As soon as the door opened though, he took a deep breath and spread his body out in a dominant male pose. A pretty woman with long blonde hair was smiling in a not-quite professional way at Naruto’s husband. Naruto’s soon to be ex-husband, he corrected himself. He remembered his promise to himself to commit to this process, and mentally corrected himself again: Naruto’s estranged husband who he could soon be reunited with, even if said estranged husband had tried to run him over on the way to their counselling session.

Naruto stood up to greet the woman who had the job of gluing them back together. And tried to pretend he didn’t notice Sasuke facial expression at being forced to sit on a sofa with Naruto. When their counsellor, called Ino, sat down in an armchair opposite the sofa, Naruto wondered if Sasuke would spend the whole hour standing by the door. Naruto wished he could feel angry as he had before, but his heart just hurt.

To cover his feelings, he fell back on the method he’d developed years ago when he was still a kid, and began talking and grinning, and asking Ino questions about herself, anything to deflect from his pain, to stop anyone asking him if he was alright. He wasn’t even really aware of what he was saying, all he was focused on was getting through the hour without crying.

He continued with his constant chatter long after Sasuke had sat down, only stopping when Ino gave them some exercise to do where stones were friends or friends were stones. The silence made his head throb. After six months Sasuke was within touching distance and Naruto couldn’t even bare to look at him. He knew it would be tough, but he hadn’t expected this dizzy confusion and the rawness of his pain. He was glad his hands were busy balancing the little pebbles on top of each other, as in the quiet of this room, his body yearned to spring on his husband, punching, shaking, hugging him.

When he reached forward and there were no more stones in his pot he asked for more. He wondered vaguely if this exercise, thinking about people important to you, was supposed to make him so lonely? He loved all his friends more or less equally. But he didn’t need any of them like he needed Sasuke. He had spent months trying to convince himself that wasn’t true, but right now, in this strange room, not speaking to each other, it felt like the only thing that was real.

He glanced over at Sasuke, who had only used two pebbles. His heart flipped that it might represent him and Sasuke, he gazed hard at the dark haired man, willing him to turn and look at him and say that it was true, Naruto was still his one and only.

The Uchiha refused to say anything and Naruto heard his own voice loudly declaring something about the fact that the only person Sasuke loved was his brother.

Sasuke response was to storm out of the room, but not before asking Ino for a date.

Naruto breathed out audibly when it was obvious that Sasuke had gone and wasn’t returning. He felt his normal thoughts returning and the fogginess of his mind clearing, although he couldn’t deny that his main emotional response was not actually relief, but a desire to run after the other man and just…he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, only that he didn’t want Sasuke to walk away from him.

He wished he’d made more of the time in the car park, when he’d seen him. There were so many things he could have said, and he definitely should have yelled at him for almost running him over and not even bothering to stop, but instead he’d hurried to this meeting where he’d hardly absorbed a single word.

It might not be too late. Sasuke might get stuck in traffic. He might have lit another cigarette which he’d have to smoke before he left as he’d never risk the smell in one of his precious cars.

Naruto turned to Ino to say a quick goodbye and was surprised that she was gazing at the door where Sasuke had left with absolute yearning for his return.

She blushed when she saw Naruto had caught her looking. ‘I’m sorry…please…I am never distracted like this…I’m so very sorry…please don’t make a complaint….,my father would be so angry.’

The woman suddenly seemed very young.

Naruto gave a half smile. ‘Don’t be too hard on yourself. The bastard has that effect on lots of normally very professional people.’

‘He does?’ Ino said with worried eyes. ‘I don’t think that my father would accept that as an excuse. He’s worked so hard to build up a flawless reputation, and he expects me as his only child to be as good as him. He’d have no sympathy at all, if I told him my first proper relationship counselling ended because one of the guys was really hot and I couldn’t stop myself checking him out.’

Naruto leaned forward and listened with his natural warmth and sympathy as Ino talked about her own life. He hadn’t expected it to end like this, but he was used to people, especially total strangers, feeling comfortable confiding in him. He gave her almost all his attention, the only exception was a small questioning at the back of his mind over why Itachi had arranged for them to have such an inexperienced counsellor?

When she finished talking Ino hugged him tightly and only half jestingly asked if he was interested in a new career. He gave her his number if she wanted to talk again and then finally left.

Despite all the time that had passed, he ran to the car park as fast as he could. But Sasuke was of course long gone. He knew it was incredibly unlikely the Uchiha would have waited for him, but still he couldn’t hold back the sigh of disappointment as he reattached his bike wheel and began the long lonely cycle home.

 

**Sasuke**

Sasuke’s hands flicked over the radio controls. He had voice control in this the newest of the many new vehicles he’d purchased over the last six months, so he was fully aware that changing the dial was merely a nervous tic, but he kept doing it. He’d been thinking about this day ever since Itachi had told him that Naruto had agreed to a meeting on neutral ground. His elder brother knew him well, and let him absorb that information, before informing him that the ‘neutral ground’ would be five counselling sessions. Despite his real hatred for any professional who claimed to see into the workings of his mind, Sasuke hadn’t argued. He had been patient for long enough waiting for Naruto to relent and return to him, now the blonde had agreed to see him he was ready to do it all on the other man’s terms.

Then earlier this morning, Itachi had rung and told him that it may come up in their session that Naruto was attending the sessions as Itachi had guaranteed him a quick and financially beneficial divorce, and it was important that Sasuke didn’t lose his temper at this as it may prevent Naruto attending the other four meetings.

Sasuke knew that his brother had chosen his timing and wording well; scaring Sasuke that he wouldn’t get to see his husband when he had been thinking of nothing else, and not giving Sasuke the leisure to think enough about it for his pride and indignation to overcome his genuine desire.

Sasuke glanced down at where his hand was on the radio again, he pulled his hand back onto the steering wheel with a sound of displeasure at this visible sign of his nerves. He turned a sharp corner, his thoughts concentrating on how to keep his composure around Naruto. Then his eyes widened, there before him on the road, wiggling from side to side above the saddle of his bike as he pumped up the incline, was his husband’s perfect ass. For the smallest moment he lost control of his whole body and the car veered towards Naruto. His heart stopped. But like a well-honed machine responding with pure instinct, the rest of his being guided the car away from the man. Naruto himself, moved with incredible speed swerving into the verge. Sasuke checked his mirrors for reassurance, Naruto was definitely upright. He knew he needed to stop, to apologise, to make sure there was no unseen injury, but he kept on driving. If anyone else had had such a near miss with his husband, and then drove off, he would have used his many resources to hunt them down and destroy them. But he couldn’t face Naruto, not yet. He could barely breathe let alone talk. A major part of his mind was trapped in the nanoseconds before Naruto had moved and Sasuke had regained control of the car. In that brief moment he was certain he’d killed the only man he loved, and it had been the end of his whole world.

 

It seemed to take a long time to reach the counselling place. When he arrived, he searched around for the packet of his once favourite brand of cigarettes an old business associate had mistakenly bought him. Sasuke had given up a long time ago as Naruto didn’t like the smell, but Sasuke needed something to relax. He stood outside with the cigarette, but didn’t light it. Maybe it was caffeine he needed. He walked to a nearby coffee shop and bought the strongest thing they had. Instead of drinking it he went back to his car and stood there motionless. Before Naruto had revealed his distaste for both, nicotine and caffeine had been the basic substances that got him through each day, but now they were like foreign substances which Sasuke had no idea how to consume.

He gazed down at the objects, and it seemed pathetic that he’d believed that such simple things could take the edge off the fact that he’d almost run Naruto over due to a surge of lust at unexpectedly seeing him.

He hadn’t been able to sleep last night for thinking through all the possibilities of what he could say to Naruto after so long, and how best to get the blonde to come home again. And now he had the added confusion of having to try and explain the near miss on the road. If he told the truth, would Naruto be disgusted? Furious? Or would he laugh his warm laugh and make some joke about how it was natural a glimpse of his body made Sasuke lose all control?

Sasuke decided to dump the cigarette and coffee and phone Itachi for advice. He hated to lean on his brother so obviously, but he couldn’t risk getting this wrong.

But there was no time. Naruto was there, standing on the other side of the car park, and the two men were gazing at each other like nothing else existed.

Sasuke’s heart thumped. Fuck, he missed his husband so much. But he couldn’t read Naruto’s expression, if only he could know what the blonde was thinking.

He swallowed. He had to break this silence. Naruto loved to talk. Naruto loved to tease and cajole. Sasuke would start on a light note, and when they’d smiled at each other he would get to the proper heartfelt apology.

When he spoke though, his voice was not full of the dry humour that Naruto always got, in fact, he was the only person who’d ever really understood Sasuke’s dark wit. His voice was harsh and accusatory. He tried to undercut it, by taking a draft of the unlit cigarette hoping that it would remind Naruto of their early days dating. Naruto had insisted he never kissed anyone who smoked, and Sasuke had claimed that sex was incomplete without a cigarette afterwards, their compromise had been to lie together in post-coital moments, passing an unlit cigarette between them, both pretending to inhale.

If Naruto was thinking of the same thing as Sasuke though, it gave him no pleasure. The blonde glared at him and made the low growling sound that inexplicably turned Sasuke on, even though Naruto only made it when he was so angry he couldn’t speak.

Sasuke made another attempt to lighten the tension between them, but his words somehow sounded even harsher. He’d called Naruto a tramp, but surely the blonde knew that didn’t reflect how he really felt?

Naruto marched past him, spitting out the words, _‘_ I’m playing my part well, wasn’t I always supposed to be no more than your bit of rough?’

When the blonde had disappeared into the centre, Sasuke dropped the cigarette into the coffee and hurled the cup across the car park. He got into the car with every intention of driving away, but he recalled what Itachi had said on the phone earlier. If he lost his temper he’d risk never seeing Naruto again. With more effort than it usually took, Sasuke regained his normal composure and followed the path his husband had taken into the centre.

 

Their counsellor was younger than he expected, a woman named Ino. He didn’t necessarily have a problem with her youth, he’d accomplished many things at a young age, but he did have a problem with how Naruto was gazing intently at her and immediately chatting non-stop about nonsense. He also had a problem with how she’d laid out her office so that Naruto and him were obliged to sit on the same sofa. He’d already almost run his husband over today because of his uncontainable lust, how was he supposed to survive an hour sitting so close with no barrier between them. All he wanted to do right now, was throw Ino out and show Naruto exactly how rough he could be if that was how the blonde wanted to play it.

He focused on thinking about his husband at his most annoying, such as flirting with the woman who was supposed to be counselling them, and that was just about enough to allow him to sit at the far end of the couch with only the slightest concern he’d give into his desire.

‘What we’re going to be doing today,’ Ino interrupted Naruto in a loud voice, ‘is get you two reacquainted with each other. My therapy is focused on seeing into your partner’s mind and acquiring a real understanding of one another. In a long term relationship it can be easy to slip into a situation where people assume they know each other because of the time spent together, but they’ve not realised that their partner has changed, or that different things are important to them. How about you start, Naruto, and tell us something that you don’t think Sasuke knows about you?’

‘Oh, Sasuke knows everything about me. He knows too much about me. Like that I hate the smell of coffee and cigarettes, so what’s he doing when I arrive, smoking and drinking a cup of coffee? Have you ever had a boyfriend that deliberately does things to annoy you, Ino? No, of course you haven’t, you’re too damned pretty, and obviously really smart, for a man to ever not appreciate you. Do you like men, or is it women, or both?’

While Naruto rambled through his clumsy attempts at seducing Ino, Sasuke gave the counsellor a single look that never failed to get him the sexual partner he wanted. Ino responded with a slight reddening of her cheeks and fluster in her body language. Sasuke turned his head to the side and paid her no more attention. He’d ensured she was interested in him not Naruto, he didn’t care beyond that. Although the thought went through his mind that he’d never tried that particular ‘look’ on the blonde in all the years they’d known each other. Would it work if he did it now?

He gazed at Naruto out of the corner of his eyes, and immediately realised that the blonde wasn’t flirting with Ino to aggravate Sasuke, in fact he wasn’t flirting with Ino at all. Not purposely. Sasuke thought about Naruto almost constantly. Whatever he appeared to be doing images of his husband were always somewhere in his mind, but had six months away made him forget the essentials of who Naruto was? The occasional tapping of his forefinger on his knee, the wide smiles that weren’t matched with bright twinkling eyes, his posture with the spread legs and broadened shoulders. These were all small but definite signs that Naruto was nervous and also trying too hard to overcompensate.

Sasuke hadn’t seen his husband edgy very often, he was far more likely to be brash and confident, he was often a very straight and honest person to deal with, wearing his emotions and his keenly held beliefs openly for anyone to see. 

Really the only times Naruto showed any anxiety was around anything remotely to do with ghosts, and when he’d met Sasuke’s parents for the first time. On that occasion he’d appeared to try and seduce _both_ Sasuke’s mother and father, but afterwards had vomited and been pale with worry unable to recall much of what he’d said. Sasuke’s anger had immediately dissipated and instead he’d held and caressed the blonde telling him it’d been the best family dinner he’d ever been to, and he’d never been more amused than watching his parents try to work out if their son’s boyfriend really was proposing to have a threesome with them.

Sasuke gave the slightest of smiles. He wished he could reach out and hold Naruto now, tell him that it was all right, they could work through their problems together. It reassured him that the blonde cared enough that this situation was making him uncomfortable, but more than that his chest hurt seeing the man who had made him so happy, was currently so unhappy.

‘Stop talking, idiot,’ Sasuke said, cutting through Naruto asking Ino if she’d like to come on a peaceful protest march with him. It was a long way from a comforting hug, but at least the sharpness of Sasuke’s voice halted the blonde’s nervous babble.

‘I think it would be beneficial to have a bit of silence and just focus on an individual exercise and then come together to discuss it afterwards,’ Ino said. ‘I’m going to give you a piece of paper and some pebbles. You’ll take one pebble to represent yourself and put it in the centre, then use the other pebbles to represent the people you love and put them either closer or further away from your central pebble depending on their relationship with you.’

As Ino explained what she wanted them to do, Sasuke gazed around the office reading the certificates on the wall, and trying to work out why his brother had thought this would be a good idea. But the vision of Itachi prompted him to thinking about how his brother would question him about the session, and he wanted to be able to tell him that at least he tried. So he took the little pot of stones that Ino gave him and put one in the centre of a piece of paper to represent himself, and thought seriously about the other people that were important to him and how closely he should place them to.

He supposed he should put his parents on, but in too many ways they were so distant that to represent their emotional nearness to him he’d have to throw the stones out of the window and hope they landed somewhere on the other side of the car park. A few names of colleagues he met up with outside work that might be classed as friends passed through his mind, but in honesty he knew he didn’t care if he never saw any of them again. Then there was Itachi. How could he represent what his brother meant to him with something as simple as a mere stone? Growing up Itachi had been mother, father, best friend, confidante, mentor and hero to him, in short everything. Until he met Naruto. And unless Ino was willing to wait for him to go and find someone who could meld two of these stones together, there was absolutely no way to show what the blonde was to him.

Sasuke looked at how lonely the single stone signifying him looked surrounded by the mass of white paper. He took another one out of his pot and rubbed it between his thumb and fingers for a long time before he placed it close to the other stone. When asked he’d say it was Kurama, the ugly ginger moggy that Naruto had rescued before they’d met. The cat had a temper worse than its owner, and had for a long time attacked Sasuke on sight. Sasuke had refused Naruto lifts and even once entry to his house, because the blonde insisted his ferocious pet got lonely and needed company and had a habit of taking it around in a carrier, or even sometimes balanced on his shoulder like a big orange monster that had eaten the parrot that should have perched there.

Some of their biggest arguments, in a relationship full of fights, were over Sasuke being adamant that the creature would have to be rehomed if Naruto wanted to move in with him. But on the night that Naruto had suddenly given up and said that Sasuke was right and Naruto shouldn’t be expecting him to live with a cat that constantly scratched and bit him, Sasuke’s heart had constricted in pain at seeing his loud lover slumped and defeated. So Kurama had moved in. And Sasuke had surprisingly quickly grown fond of and felt a strange kinship with the animal that hated everyone except Naruto.

Since the split Naruto had sent messages asking for his cat back more than he’d asked for a divorce. But Sasuke couldn’t return it; while he had Kurama he could hold onto the belief that Naruto would return. The pet and him were so close, it was still strange after months of separation to see the ginger moggy and not see Naruto trailing after him, making sure the animal had enough food, water and amusement.

Seeing that the only pebble Sasuke had placed down represented his beloved pet, Naruto would surely understand how sincerely Sasuke loved the pet’s owner. He’d remember how much Sasuke used to moan about the cat hair everywhere and the smell, but had grown accustomed to it as part of the package that Naruto was, and see that as a sign of how he’d been able to change and adapt to accommodate his husband. Naruto’d hopefully also think back to those nights when Sasuke displayed the new wounds he’d got from Kurama and Naruto would caress and kiss them all so seductively that Sasuke wished that the cat had been more vicious in its attacks.

Sasuke’s memories were interrupted by Naruto’s loudest, cheeriest voice.

‘Do you have any more pebbles, Ino? I only need about a dozen or so more.’

Sasuke glanced over at the stone tower that the blonde was constructing. Everything was in the centre and balanced precariously on top of one another. He wondered if he was anywhere in there, and then with a surge of jealous anger, he thought that if he was, he better be the one directly on top of Naruto.

He folded his arms and forced himself to stare forward. This was one of the major problems in his relationship with the blonde; a stupid exercise with lifeless bits of stones could make Sasuke feel like his whole being was aflame with twisted sexual possessiveness. The intensity of his desire could make him lose control of his car and nearly kill his husband.

‘You can have mine.’ Sasuke was satisfied with how indifferent his voice sounded despite the turmoil of his emotions. He pushed the pot across the coffee table without looking at Naruto. ‘I’ve finished, and am more than happy for you to waste our session pretending you’re back in kindergarten playing with building blocks.’

He didn’t have to look to know the blonde was glaring at him.

‘Sasuke, perhaps you can talk us through what you’ve done,’ Ino said in a worried and mollifying tone. Naruto’s glare was obviously more murderous than Sasuke was imagining.

‘He doesn’t have to,’ Naruto said before Sasuke could reply. ‘It’s hardly rocket science, is it? The one pebble he’s put on represents my cat, that he’s refused to return to me. He’s just doing it to goad me. The one person he does actually love is Itachi, but he thinks he’s too good to do this exercise so he has refused to put Itachi on there as he considers it demeaning.’

Sasuke’s felt heat rush to his cheeks. How could his husband know him so well, but get it so wrong? His heart pounded desperately hoping that Naruto would recognise his mistake and realise what Sasuke had truly been trying to communicate to him. Or perhaps he had known, and that was his sarcastic response to Sasuke’s hopes of rekindling their love.

‘Naruto, let Sasuke speak for himself,’ Ino said with a slight hint of annoyance in her voice. ‘Do you consider this exercise to be demeaning, Sasuke?’

‘I consider this whole thing pointless. I’m far more interest in having a private date and getting to know you, than discussing the failures of my ex.’ He stood up. ‘You know how to contact me, Ino.’

Sasuke strode out of the room and down to the car. He waited a full five minutes for Naruto to chase after him in anger, tears, or just demanding his cat back. Then he turned the key in the ignition and drove off.

 

 

 

 


	2. The Second Hour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's there second counselling session, sometimes things have to get worse before they get better...and sometimes things just get bad and stay bad.   
> Which'll it be for Naruto and Sasuke?

Sasuke turned into the muddy narrow lane and understood why Itachi had advised him to drive his 4x4 to the next counselling session. According to his vehicle’s navigation system, there were no roads here, and he was driving in the middle of an empty field. The most state of the art satellite technology had apparently decided it was better for civilisation to pretend this dead, backwater dump didn’t exist.

Sasuke cursed under his breath as briars from the close hedgerows scratched along the side of his car. Whatever money Itachi had promised Naruto as a divorce settlement, Sasuke would ensure that deducted from it was the cost of repairing his paintwork. No, not just the paintwork, a whole new car, however much they tried to match it, no repair would ever be as good as the original factory work. Since the first session, Sasuke had tried every tactic he knew to get Itachi to reveal exactly how much of Sasuke’s wealth Itachi intended to settle on his ex-husband. He’d argued that Naruto’s antics had actually cost him money and the blonde should be reimbursing him and that Naruto Uzumaki was worth nothing. Itachi had calmly replied that if Sasuke truly believed that then he’d cancel all the other sessions and start on the divorce paperwork. When Sasuke had no response Itachi had given a small smile and handed over the directions for Naruto and Sasuke’s next meeting.

And here Sasuke obediently was, wasting his leisure time trying to find a deserted place in the middle of nowhere in the hopes that Naruto’s desire for money meant that he’d attend even though the first session had been such a disaster. He assumed that it was his annoying partner in crime, Kiba, who was pushing Naruto to meet Itachi’s terms.

Despite what many in his family presumed about their relationship, Sasuke knew that Naruto had never been interested in the Uchiha money, and more than anything else, saw wealth as some sort of burden of responsibilities. He hadn’t accepted any of the cheques Sasuke had tried to get to him via other people, leading Sasuke to just put money directly in the blonde’s bank account. He hoped Naruto was accessing it and he hoped he was using it to look after himself rather than dividing it amongst all the hangers on and spongers that Naruto truly believed were his friends.

Judging from their last meeting, Naruto wasn’t spending money on clothes or grooming, but then he never had, and he didn’t need to. Among Sasuke’s acquaintances were men who had built up colossal debts on various cosmetic procedures, and none of them, for all their appointments with the best plastic surgeons in the country, looked a fraction as appealing as Naruto did with messy hair and mud splattered clothes.

The same people who gossiped about Naruto taking an easy ride to riches, believed that Sasuke had got himself a trophy husband to smile and look pretty at social gatherings, in exactly the same pattern of his older heterosexual colleagues who took pride in displaying their succession of young, blonde, tan, fit wives. None of these people were surprised when the split happened, the assumption was that when the divorce was safely finalised, Sasuke would appear with a new muscled man on his arm. And this time he would get it right, and choose someone more suitable for the role, someone who appreciated their good fortune, knew their position to be quietly submissive, nodding and smiling at the right times, and who would _never_ get into arguments with his betters.

At the time he’d been furious, but now he smirked at the memory of an occasion when Naruto had taken one of Sasuke’s distant cousin’s outward clothing like a normal host, only to throw it into a fire like an incredibly deranged host. The blonde followed this act of destruction with a tirade about how sick someone had to be to mistake a dead fox for a scarf. The blonde’s anger had quickly turned to his husband when Sasuke had offered the woman financial reimbursement for the loss of her antique fur. From this distance across the years, Sasuke found himself wistfully wishing he was more like Naruto’s friend, Kiba, and had joined in with Naruto’s protest by…saying a prayer for the long dead animal?...no, that would be too passive, it had to be pure chaotic energy for his husband…perhaps he could have ripped more clothes off his guests and burnt everything that might not meet Naruto’s ethical standards…which would have left everyone but the blonde standing naked around a vast bonfire.

If that could’ve pleased Naruto enough that they’d never have reached this stage where he was hoping to find the love of his life attending a counselling session because he wanted a quick divorce, Sasuke would do it every single time. Plus it’d have the added bonus that all his extended family would consider him dead to them, and the only people he’d have in his regular personal life were Itachi and Naruto just how he’d like it.

These random thoughts meant that Sasuke was softly smiling when he eventually reached an area where two bikes were left to the side and two men were doing one armed press ups on the ground. Sasuke concentrated on parking even though he slid into tight parking spots on busy roads without pausing. But he was determined not to lose focus. Even thinking about the rhythmic rise and fall of the man in the orange track suit’s perfect derriere was sending heat to his groin.

He gave a brief glance at his reflection in the rearview mirror before he stepped out of his vehicle and assessed whatever craziness awaited him.

‘Sasuke!’ The man working out with Naruto cried out as if they were old friends. He leaped up in some sort of star jump and ran over to the Uchiha, actually lifting him off the ground in a massive bear hug.

Sasuke’s instincts were to violently push this oddity in a green jumpsuit away from him. But as his chest was being crushed against the man, and his head pressed above his shoulder, his eyes fixed on his blonde husband. There was Naruto sitting casually in the dirt, grinning wildly and giving Sasuke a thumbs up, followed by spreading his arms out and mouthing, ‘What’s Itachi on?’ as he pointed towards the green outfitted man who was continuing to crush Sasuke in a bear hug.

There was an immediate comradery between them far beyond anything Sasuke had hoped for. Sasuke responded with raised eyebrows. In every situation in his life Sasuke was a quick thinker, and quick to lose patience with fools, and quick to lose his temper with anyone who questioned him (though he rarely showed it beyond a slight sharpening to his already curt voice), quick to decide who he wanted to fuck, quick to end any relationship that was boring him or wasn’t beneficial in some way…and so on and on for every situation in his life apart from with his husband.

Should he pretend he knew what was going on and try and keep some authority in this situation? Should he admit he had no idea why Itachi had sent him to this field to be crushed to death by a strange man while Naruto watched?

Before he had to make any decision, the man put him down and smiled with teeth so bright that Sasuke was tempted to ask for the name of his dentist. He put his thumb up in the way Naruto had.

‘You are the very essence of beautiful youth!’ There was actually a tear in his eye which he wiped away without any embarrassment.

If someone had described what would happen on his arrival, Sasuke would’ve assumed the man in the green costume was hitting on him, but he was the least sexual person Sasuke had ever encountered. The stranger seemed genuinely and sentimentally happy to meet him with no undertones of attraction.

‘Where’s Ino?’ Sasuke asked maintaining the trademark indifference of his voice, despite his heart thumping and his mind racing over the positive greeting he’d had from Naruto.

‘Ah, didn’t your fine brother tell you? Ms Yamanaka felt that her specialities didn’t match your needs, and Itachi believed that I, Maito Gai, would be the perfect person to take over.’

‘What are your specialities then?’ Sasuke folded his arms and waited for this ridiculous situation to start to make sense.

Naruto leapt to his feet and jumped up and down like a little kid. ‘Can I tell him? Let me tell him! Please Gai, this’ll be the highlight of our whole marriage.’

The man wiped another tear from his eyes. ‘Your enthusiasm for my techniques is truly moving, young Naruto. I can already tell you’re going to be one of the best students a sensei could be blessed with.’

Sasuke feels no comfort at the words ‘students’ and ‘sensei’, what kind of marriage counsellor uses that sort of language? Obviously, the same sort who meets his clients in the middle of nowhere wearing clothes even more hideous than Naruto usual ensemble.

The Uchiha’s expression remained completely disinterested. He raised an eyebrow at the blonde to indicate he was ready for an explanation.

‘This is so cool, we have to run around and jump over fences and climb under ropes, and the exertion will…will…’ Naruto looked at Gai. ‘Help make us think about things?’

Gai patted Naruto on the back. ‘Yes, that is exactly it! By pushing our body to the limits it clears our mind and allows us to deal honestly and remember everything that is important.’

Naruto beamed at Sasuke. ‘I am so going to beat you, Uchiha.’

Sasuke met Naruto’s blue eyes. This was what had put Naruto in an exuberant mood, for someone so easy-going, relaxed and uncompetitive, Naruto could be incredibly, well, competitive. And Sasuke knew for himself, that for someone who barely registered other people’s opinions, he was used to being the best at everything he did and liked to keep it that way.

Gai was giving some patter that Sasuke didn’t focus on, about how competing against each other wasn’t the main purpose, but could be useful in bringing intense emotions to the forefront.

‘This is clearly all irrelevant,’ Sasuke cut through the counsellor’s explanation. ‘I’m plainly not doing this. I’m afraid I was not informed that it was cross country day at school, and did not bring my PE kit.’

‘Don’t fret, loverboy, I brought a change of clothes with me.’ Naruto rushed to retrieve his rucksack which was thrown down by the bikes.

Sasuke’s stomach swirled slightly at how casually the blonde had said ‘loverboy’. It was probably a taunt rather than anything else, Naruto knew he despised petnames.

Gai put an arm around his shoulder and said in a low voice. ‘You’re very lucky to have a husband so imbued with an eternal springtime of youth. Itachi trusts me so you should too. We’ll reunite you two young lovers.’

Before Sasuke could make any response, the man jumped away and was hopping in circles shouting about how it was a great balancing exercise.

Then Naruto arrived in front of him, and slowed his pace as if suddenly unsure how close he should get to Sasuke. He dug around in his bag and held out a tracksuit and trainers for his husband to take.

To his shame, Sasuke realised his heart was thumping at the prospect of being able to touch Naruto’s fingers when he took the clothes. He braced his stomach and took them quickly without any physical contact. This brusque action looked even more bizarre than if he had lingered brushing against his husband. To cover his discomfort he snapped out a question. ‘Why have you got spare clothes?’

Naruto gave his sheepish grin and rubbed the back of his head. ‘Yaknow, it was a long cycle ride out here, and I assumed the destination’d be some sort of office in a country house or something…and after you said last time that I looked a mess…I thought I better have a change of clothes to look more presentable…for you.’

‘And your presentable is another tracksuit and trainers?’ The words sounded harsh instead of teasing, what Sasuke needed was a private lesson in how to talk to his husband naturally, not this exercise junkie freak show.

Naruto’s eyes looked sad, quickly followed by a fierce glare. ‘I’m still me. I’m not going to change for you.’

‘Except you were going to change for me.’ Sasuke held the clothes higher and to his relief this time the blonde understood and grinned.

Naruto glanced over to where Gai was hopping on the other leg, then stepped in closer to Sasuke. ‘I love this man already, but it’s not what I was expecting from counselling? Definitely not someone I’d expect Itachi to choose for us, what’s going on?’

Naruto’s whispers were never as quiet as he thought they were, but today Sasuke didn’t care. Naruto had come near enough to him that he could feel the warmth of the blonde’s breath on his face.

Sasuke liked having a rounder knowledge than his husband and being able to correct him and answer all his questions without having to think, but right now giving a shrug and simply saying, ‘I’ve no idea,’ was a pure pleasure because of Naruto’s response.

Naruto laughed. ‘You and I together will find out what’s going on in your mastermind brother’s head, right?’ He held out his two first fingers of his right hand and Sasuke did the same with his left hand. They touched and linked around each other.

It was a gesture that Sasuke only knew through Naruto, although Naruto claimed that everyone had done it when he was a kid. But for Sasuke it remained something intimate just between the two of them, a sign of trust and unspoken promises. When their fingers touched, Sasuke felt the calmest he had for months. He wanted to use this first physical contact to pull Naruto against his body and hold his husband tightly, never letting go until the blonde promised never to walk out on him again.

But too quickly Naruto pulled away and was hopping over to Gai asking how to do the balancing exercises properly.

Sasuke had an urge to stamp his foot in frustration like a small kid, the type of outburst Naruto himself would have. Instead he maintained his steady breathing and looked down at the clothes he was supposed to wear, and faced the problem of how to get changed into them. He wanted to get undressed in front of Naruto more than anything, but not like this. At best it’d be awkward, drawing attention to the fact of how long it had been since they were naked together; at worst, Naruto might think Sasuke was flaunting in front of him, trying to draw Naruto back with sex and not taking these counselling sessions (as ridiculous as this one was turning out to be) as a serious opportunity to mend their problems.

Sasuke glanced over to where Naruto was laughing with Gai as he hopped from one leg to the other. No, worst, would be, what was happening now, Sasuke was about to disrobe and Naruto wasn’t remotely interested.

Even though the blonde wasn’t looking at him, Sasuke took further time considering how to get changed. He could get in his car, but would that be too prissy, make him seem more separate from his husband than ever? Last night he’d showered in front of a colleague and strangers after a squash game without thinking about it, but today was nervous about going down to his underwear in front of his husband?

His compromise was to open the car door as a sort of windbreak, and undress behind it. He checked that neither of the other men were looking, then held Naruto’s clothes to his nose and inhaled deeply. They held the almost boiled sweet aroma of Naruto’s bag, the cheap fragrance of offbrand detergent that thankfully hadn’t been powerful enough to wash away the scent of the man they belonged to. Sasuke wasn’t sure if it was the effect of love and pure lust but Naruto had never smelt like other men, even at his sweatiest, the blonde was sweet and warm like cinnamon. He didn’t taste like other men either. Not that Sasuke could think about that now, or he would have no choice but to hide completely in the car to conceal his arousal.

The Uchiha didn’t rush changing, there was a chance that perhaps he wanted what happened to happen. He had on the orange jogging pants and trainers, but not the t-shirt or hoodie, when Naruto’s crazy hopping bought him to a place where he could see Sasuke perfectly. Sasuke smirked. Naruto didn’t look at his face, his eyes went directly to where Naruto’s jogging pants hung low on Sasuke’s narrower hips, revealing the definition between his stomach muscles and hip flexors. Naruto had been wild from the very beginning about these ‘V’ shaped lines, caressing and kissing them both before and after sex. Occasionally when they were both in the right mood, Sasuke would wear a small pair of briefs for Naruto and they would laze in bed with Naruto happily doing nothing more than trace the definition of those muscles leading tantalisingly down towards Sasuke’s groin.

Now though Sasuke hoped Naruto had had enough of a look to make him think about what he was missing out on. He pulled the t-shirt on and didn’t bother to hide his smirk when Naruto tried to hop away and fell over instead. It wasn’t on the level of almost running your lover over because of a glimpse of their ass, but it was something that showed Naruto was still hot for him.

As Sasuke zipped the hoodie up, he pondered on the fact that he’d never worried, never doubted before in his life, whether someone he desired would find him attractive. But then nothing with Naruto had ever been like it was with anyone else, which is why everyone else had been dumped and he’d married the blonde. A stray thought struck him, had Naruto leaving him been karma for the way Sasuke had treated all his other lovers? Fuck he hoped not, because if some sort of what-goes-around-comes-around universal fairness was involved in this, there was no way that Sasuke would ever get Naruto back into his bed. The blonde had been far from the first person to call him a heartless bastard.

‘Hnnnn,’ Sasuke grunted. If fate was trying to take his lover from him, he would break fate open and rip out its guts. Naruto was his and nothing in this world was going to keep him away from his husband.

He jogged over to Gai and Naruto, fully prepared to do whatever it took to win his man back.

 

Sasuke’s own guts felt like they’d been pummelled by the heavyweight champion of the world, and his lungs hurt so much he wouldn’t be surprised if he was suffering major internal bleeding. He glanced at his watch. They’d only been working out for five minutes. Only _five_ minutes out of a whole sixty minutes. Sasuke was fit. Sasuke was incredibly fit. But as soon as the session had started properly this green clad man who innocently called himself Maito Gai, had transformed from a sentimental idiot into a superpowered demon.

And Sasuke could not show how much this was hurting as Naruto was breezing through despite the fact he’d cycled here and been exercising with Gai before Sasuke arrived.

‘Now, we’re all warmed up, let’s start the real thing!’ Gai called out, showing no breathiness or pause in his speech as he started off across the speed at breakneck speed. ‘With our bodies taking all our energy, this is a time we can open all our emotional gates and share freely with each other, without our conscious mind interrupting and thinking too much.’

If Sasuke had been sat in a normal office he would have hnnned and questioned the validity of a relationship counselling that advocated _not thinking too much_. All he cared about pounding across this field was that if anyone was asked to speak it’d be Naruto, as he was seriously scared that if he opened his own mouth he’d be vomiting from the exertion.

‘Naruto, you start us off.’

Sasuke internally cheered. Then his brain went back to informing him exactly how much all his muscles were hurting.

‘Share your immediate thoughts with us,’ Gai said.

‘Ummmm, I’m not really thinking much at the moment,’ Naruto said in a clear voice. ‘Maybe, yaknow, it’s nice being out under the sky getting some exercise?’

‘Good thoughts, Naruto.’ Gai beamed. ‘But have you got anything in your mind you’d like to say to Sasuke?’

‘Nope. Not really. We’ve already said everything we need to say to each other. You know, we’re guys, we don’t have to keep going over and over the same things. We say it once and we understand each other. And that’s that.’

Sasuke gritted his teeth, and despite the pain in his legs begging for him to just collapse on the ground, he increased his pace so he was in front of Gai, and more importantly Naruto. Was the blonde deliberately lying, or was he so deluded he actually believed what he said to be true? In his mind he mimicked Naruto’s ‘we’re guys, we don’t have to keep going over and over the same things’ and played it alongside the many arguments they’d had again and again about exactly _the same things_! Naruto’s messiness, the differences in their life ambitions, Naruto wanting to live on ramen and sweets, the differences in their politics, Naruto’s open invitation to all his loser friends to treat their house like a no-rules squat, the differences in their religious and philosophical stances, Naruto’s constant desire for noise, just the straight fact they were completely different people.

‘What about you, Sasuke, what would you like to say to Naruto?’ Gai asked chirpily.

‘That I should have been the one to chuck you out, long before you left.’ Sasuke didn’t like what he’d said, but he was glad his voice somehow sounded as steady as Naruto’s.

But the blonde now effortlessly passed Sasuke and leapt over the fence ahead of them as if it wasn’t there.

‘This is good! We’re making great progress. Now Sasuke, why don’t you expand further and tell us _why_ you didn’t chuck Naruto out.’

Sasuke barely heard Gai’s question as he powered forward, determined to get over the obstacle as easily as Naruto had. He did. Then his next focus was to overtake the blonde again and prove to his husband once and for all who was superior in this relationship.

 

***

 It was over. At last it was over. Naruto didn’t know how he was managing to walk upright. Not just walk, _jog_ back towards his bike at the start. He looked at the man trotting easily beside him. Oh, he did know after all, that was the reason.

They had raced around the course together, getting so far ahead of Gai (eventually lapping him) that neither of them had been sure what was course and what was just plain wilderness. They’d crawled through mud, waded through a stream, battled through briars, all the while pushing the other to go faster and faster. The lead changed every five minutes or so. Naruto in fact didn’t mind being behind the Uchiha. He knew he was angry at Sasuke over something the bastard had said, he’d forgotten very quickly what it was with the pain of his body overwhelming all coherent thoughts, but the rage remained, and he enjoying biting at the other man’s heels, not allowing Sasuke to slow to a more comfortable pace, but instead forcing him to speed up if he wanted to stay in front. But of course, when Naruto somehow, somewhere, discovered an extra burst of energy and with a wide grin overtook the Uchiha, his sense of triumph was short lived as Sasuke did exactly the same thing to him.

Although Sasuke had no reason to bait Naruto, the blonde was almost entirely certain he’d kept to his resolve and been friendly and open to his husband since he arrived. And when Gai had asked what he’d like to say to Sasuke, Naruto had gone against his initial pledge to commit totally to the counselling process and be completely open, instead deciding to give an answer that he knew Sasuke would like, some rubbish about being men and not needing to keep going over their feelings. In the time between the sessions, Naruto had thought more about how Sasuke was only doing them for Itachi, and as soon as Gai had spoken the question, Naruto had just wanted to be kind to Sasuke and not make the other man go through the torture of discussing their problems with a stranger.

So when Naruto had been nothing but nice, why had such hostile energy emitted from his husband across the whole agonising hour? Then something came into the blonde’s tired brain. Sasuke didn’t show emotion easily, just because there had been no physical change in the raven’s expression, didn’t mean Naruto’s actions hadn’t seriously annoyed him.

Naruto’s face was flushed from the physical exertion, but it went crimson now with a deep blush. It was well within the realms of possibility that his estranged husband was boiling with fury from when Naruto had so obviously perved at him when he’d had his top off?

The blonde swallowed down a sense of guilt which swirled in his stomach. Unconsciously, despite the agony of his body he increased from a jog to a run back across the last field to the starting point.

Sasuke possessed no locker room shyness, he knew how great his body was and never seemed offended, or flattered, when people checked him out. But today, he’d half hidden behind a car door when he’d got changed. There was no reason for him to worry about Gai seeing his abs, so it was obviously Naruto he hadn’t wanted to look at him. He knew how fixated Naruto was on the definition of the muscles leading down towards his groin, and he hadn’t wanted the blonde to think about him that way.

More than ever, Naruto wanted to collapse to the ground and just lie there for a long while weeping. He knew it was stupid getting upset at realising Sasuke didn’t want Naruto to have sexual thoughts about him. What was he expecting to be the result of walking out on his husband? They would remain friends who were still openly hot for each other?

Naruto’s despair was interrupted by the crisp tones of his husband’s voice.

‘You’re going too fast.’

‘Heh, are you admitting you can’t keep up with me at last?’ Naruto said, surprised at how cocky and chirpy he sounded when he felt both mentally and physically drained.

‘I think Gai needs our help.’ Sasuke turned on his heel and ran back the way they’d come.

Naruto was immediately after him as he saw their counsellor bent double his arms clasped around his belly.

Together they carried Gai to Sasuke’s car as the man in a seeming delirium kept repeating how Sasuke and Naruto truly were in the springtime of their youth and he’d never had students who lapped him before.

As Sasuke strapped him into the passenger seat, Naruto ran and got Gai’s bike. Gai had been so excited when Naruto had arrived, declaring it was rare to meet another fellow cycler. They’d shared addresses and were enough in the same direction that Gai had asked if they could cycle back together, although strictly as friends as Gai said it was important for his own mental life that he never counselled outside the time confines of a session. But now, Naruto would be biking home alone as usual, because him and Sasuke had got idiotically competitive with each other and actually pushed their fitness freak counsellor beyond his limit. Somehow they’d both become oblivious to the important fact that they were supposed to stay with Gai and take his advice, not be lapping past him in their own dual battle.

Naruto felt sad on too many levels as he fitted Gai’s bike onto the cycle fittings of Sasuke’s car to think much about anything or be fully aware of Sasuke standing watching him. He physically jumped when Sasuke spoke.

‘Do you have enough strength left to fetch your own bike, Naruto, or shall we get it together? I know you’ve got amazing stamina, and you carried Gai’s like it was a twig, but I know you have to be aching with what we’ve just put our bodies through. In honesty, I’m definitely too tired to carry it on my own, but I should have the strength to help you and still be able to drive us home.’

Naruto stared wide eyed at his husband, trying to work out if his brain had correctly interpreted the sounds Sasuke made. Sasuke almost never admitted any weakness, so that was odd enough, but it was the assumption that he’d give Naruto a lift that most confused the blonde.

‘Don’t look at me like that. I’m not a selfish ego-driven monster, I think about you and things that’ll make your life nicer. Why do you think I had ugly cycle racks put on my beautiful car? To hold _two_ bikes.’

Naruto frowned. He felt like he was a caveman being shown a smart phone. ‘You knew Gai was a cyclist who would get exhausted and need a lift?’

Sasuke took a step towards him. ‘God, you really are so stupid. Short term, I had a faint hope we’d make enough progress in the session that you’d accept a lift home from me and you would not be cycling alone on these dangerous roads. Long term, I hoped we could do something you enjoyed together. I’d drive us out into the country and we could go for a cycle ride. I’d let you lecture me on how important it is to preserve our precious environment.’ Sasuke gazed shyly down before he looked up again and met Naruto’s eyes. ‘I think I might even like it.’

Naruto glanced at Sasuke’s massive car and then continued to frown at his husband. His head was pounding way too much to try and digest the meaning of this. But his mouth managed to open and form a protective, instinctive reply. ‘You don’t get it, do you? My beliefs aren’t some hobby that you can partake in on an occasional Sunday when you’re not too busy with work. They’re an essential part of who I am. I cycle so I don’t cause pollution. There’s no way in any hell that I’d enjoy being driven around in your petrol guzzler to be appeased by a couple of minutes of leisure biking so that you can feel all righteous and think that you’re making an effort for me. So, no, I don’t need any help thank you very much, carrying my bike to be safely attached to your _beautiful_ car, and by the way, bastard, people, animals, the natural world, and some artworks are beautiful, not a hunk of metal car! I’ll be riding my bike home just like I rode it here, and I know this part is difficult to understand for someone as self-involved as you, so listen carefully, because I am someone who _actually_ cares about the world and the people around me!’

He stormed off, but not fast enough to be out of hearing distance as Sasuke yelled after him about all the occasions Naruto had been more than grateful to have a lift.

‘And before you shout me out, idiot, try also to remember the many many times you’ve begged me to pull over and find somewhere quiet to park up. You weren’t so concerned about the amount of trees my _petrol guzzler_ was killing when you were bent over the bonnet spreading your ass cheeks, were you, you fucking, hypocritical whore!’

Naruto was relieved when he heard the slam of a car door and the roar of the engine as Sasuke sped off.

Then left in silence, he suddenly wasn’t relieved any more. He was tired. And miserable. He wiped his sleeve across his forehead which was damp with sweat, and rubbed his palms into his eyes which were wet with tears. With effort he blinked them away and stopped himself full out crying, because if he started weeping now in this empty field in the middle of nowhere, he didn’t know if he’d ever be able to move again.

He got on his bike and started cycling home alone, just as he had from the first counselling session. The difference being that he felt a thousand times worse this time.

 _Only three hours to go. Only three hours to go._ Naruto repeated to himself as he pumped his aching legs in the pedals, and visualised all the amazing things Kiba and him could achieve with the money the divorce would earn him.

But a part of him was truly the hypocritical whore Sasuke had named him, as all it wanted was to be in a steaming hot bath with his husband, gently teasing each other for their stupid physical display as they massaged their tender muscles better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so so much for continuing to read this, I had fun writing it, but in the end cut the long description of Naruto and Sasuke taunting each other as they tear up Gai's course and all their muscles! I hope there's enough here that you can still get that they were being hyper competitive with each other for reasons neither of them quite get yet.
> 
> As well as endlessly saying thank you to all you kind lovely people, reading, commenting and leaving feedback, another recurring theme of my author notes is apologising for any errors (and I know there's probably dozens) left in the work. Sometimes it's because I'm ill, but mostly it's time constraints and having serious mistakes I can never pick up with my own eyes. I kind of hope that it's the right decision to post and keep the story flowing, rather than delaying putting them up until I can beg someone else to read through? I do have a future plan that when I run out of ideas that I'm desperate to write, I'll take the time and go slowly through all my stories trying to correct them. I do do this at the moment in a piecemeal fashion, but at some point I'll try and get it right. Until that mythical day, more thanks and gratitude for being patient enough to scan across my mistakes and (hopefully!) enjoy the story.


	3. The Third Hour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone for continuing to read this story, I really appreciate it.
> 
> This chapter has a little bit of flashback sex and a whole lot of talking and thinking.

Panting Naruto threw his bike down on the ground at the side of the car park. This place was even more exclusive than where Ino had her office for their first counselling session, and as Sasuke had delighted in pointing out, rich people weren’t exactly known for prowling around stealing scratched up old bikes. He really couldn’t afford to take the extra time to secure it, as he was late. Half way through their session late. Itachi hadn’t covered tardiness in the initial deal, but Naruto wasn’t sure he could stand it if he failed the whole thing because of today.

There was a fricking security buzzer thing on the building. Of course there was a fricking security buzzer thing on the building, because why would there be a nice normal open door to make his life that little bit easier. He tapped his foot impatiently, but didn’t dare look at his watch.

It was Kiba who had talked him into going through all this to get the divorce payout, and it was Kiba who may have ruined it all by getting caught painting ‘LIAR’ over the car of Tobirama Senju, the vice mayor, or head treasurer, or something…Naruto always got confused with political designations, because honestly what mattered other than the head honcho? They were the ones you had to reach if you wanted to get anything changed. Even if, as he’d learnt from Sasuke, the head honcho wasn’t always the person with the title, it could be an advisor, or a financier, or…a hairdresser in one case! But whatever his official position, Tobirama Senja had enough power and influence to make things very difficult for Kiba, even over something simple like a bit of graffiti.

Luckily Naruto hadn’t been far away and had got to Kiba while Tobirama Senja was still there shouting his friend out personally (what was this thing with wealthy guys and their cars?). Naruto had been prepared to go into full charming spool mode, it was surprising how often it worked tapping into rich person guilt and slipping casual references into the conversation about how tough Kiba and his childhoods had been. Just pulling up on his bike and looking at the austere white haired man though, Naruto guessed that he wasn’t going to be the type to take pity on adults just because they’d been raised in a poor single parent family, or in Naruto’s case, an orphanage. He was one of those ‘grow up and man up’ types. Naruto was momentarily hanging back, considering if childhood pain was still the way to go? Often the tough, hard shells like Naruto could almost see like a physical casing around Tobirama were built up because of bad experiences, going for some sort of connection rather than pity, was a more difficult call, but Naruto had got him and his friends out of more than one scrape with the law through getting seemingly unapproachable people to open up to him

As it went though, none of Naruto’s talking skills were needed. Tobirama had glanced over at him, and then looked again, stayed looking and burst out laughing.

‘You’re the kid who took the precious youngest Uchiha brat out of the breeding pool, aren’t you?’

‘Sasuke Uchiha is my husband,’ Naruto replied slowly.

Behind Tobirama’s back, Kiba circled his hands around indicating for Naruto to play it up. Graffiti didn’t seem like it’d be too bad a charge for Kiba to weather, but his friend’s eyes were wide in desperation. Maybe Tobirama could make it into something more, he looked like one of those types that once he had you in your sights he’d find a way to take you down. And even if it was just a fine, money was so tight until he got his divorce payout, that could cause more problems than a few days locked up. Naruto would help Kiba anyway he could, but he didn’t know quite where to go with this line about Sasuke.

But Tobirama had continued under his own steam. ‘Oh, I remember how angry Fugaku was when his son turned out to be a fag, those were good days.’

Naruto’s anger boiled at the insult, and how casually the man pronounced it, as if it was a perfectly acceptable term to use in conversation. The blonde only contained himself because of Kiba rapidly shaking his head. Punching Tobirama would not help Kiba.

‘When I see you at events, I always want to come and thank you for how much amusement you’ve caused my family by humiliating the Uchihas. And now is it true, you’re really rubbing their nose in the dirt, by divorcing Sasuke?’

Naruto shrugged. He couldn’t bring himself to grin and joke along with this man, even for Kiba’s sake, but he did manage to stand there and listen to a lot of badmouthing of his in laws. Naruto wondered if the man had been saving up all this hate and was grateful for an outlet that he believed would be sympathetic, or if, which seemed more likely by how easy all the words flowed, Tobirama daily spiced his conversation up by belittling the Uchihas. Most of what the man said, Naruto had said at one point or another to Kiba. He hoped without the same level of spitefulness, and _definitely_ without all the gay-bashing.

Naruto puzzled how Tobirama who was acting with overt friendliness towards him, didn’t think that the slurs he was casting on Sasuke, actually applied to the blonde too? He believed that if he pulled Tobirama up on any of them, the man would be unable to comprehend why Naruto had got offended. Did he think Naruto was somehow not as homosexual as the man he was married to? That he was just forcing himself to bed Sasuke for the money like many people assumed, or just to screw the Uchihas up, which is what Tobirama was heavily implying?

Whatever his thought processes, after saying his piece, his very long piece, Tobirama treated Kiba and Naruto like they were a couple of young scamps up to mischief in the way all healthy lads should be. He even ruffled Naruto’s hair.

Kiba and Naruto walked away free men, but were silent for a long while and didn’t celebrate the unexpected ease of the escape.

Finally Kiba said, ‘I’m thinking, I’m going to have to buy more paint for next time. Do you think ‘homophobic, misogynistic, lying bastard’ would cover him?’

Naruto chuckled. ‘Stay within your limits, my friend. You didn’t even get away with writing four letters!’

‘I should definitely have gone for a different four letters too.’

They laughed and bantered for a while, before Kiba suddenly said, ‘Hey what were you up to before I had to throw up the batsignal? Didn’t you have your money-making thing with Sasuke today?’

Naruto’s face went pale. ‘I was leaving early hoping to see Sas before my counselling session. Fuck! What’s the time?’

He glanced at his watch and then didn’t bother saying another word to Kiba. He cycled as hard and fast as he ever had. And now here he was waiting uselessly outside the building unable to get in.

He banged his fist against all the buzzers not just the one for Dr J. Sanin.

He wanted to pretend it was just about the money, however, it wasn’t his brain, but his heart that hurt. Since their last counselling session, Naruto hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the two cycle racks on Sasuke’s car. Sasuke was the kind of guy who would drive the fifteen minute walk to his gym, workout for hours, and then drive home again, without ever considering the possibility of adding a quick jog there and back into his exercise regime. Yet for some reason Sasuke was now considering going for bike rides with Naruto. In the long term. Those had been his exact words. _In the long term_. It made the breath stop in Naruto’s throat every time he thought about it; could it really be true that Sasuke was willing to change in order to give their relationship a future? He’d been desperate to talk to Sasuke, but even though they’d now seen each other twice, Naruto still found the idea of phoning him difficult. Difficult in this case meaning he had picked his phone up multiple times and then in the end just thrown it across the room.

When he first left he tried almost constantly to phone Sasuke, then it became hourly, then daily, and then without really realising it at the time, he stopped hoping to get an answer from his husband to all the many messages he’d left him and stopped calling altogether.

Now after all the months that had passed, he didn’t know how to reinitiate that level of contact. It probably didn’t help, that he didn’t want to talk to Sasuke about something simple, like when he used to just call his husband and ask if he was having a good day. He wanted to ask Sasuke if he still loved him.

 Naruto’s ears suddenly tuned into a raised voice coming from an open window above him.

‘How many times do I have to repeat this? I am not going to answer any of your questions. My husband has decided not to attend, therefore this _couples_ counselling session is void.’

Naruto assessed the building, he was an expert at getting into places where they didn’t necessarily want to open the door to him, and this was a doozy. Big old tree, check. Nice sturdy brick work, check. Large window for him to climb through just at the place he wanted to be, single, double, triple check. Perfect!

He took a run up on the tree, and used the momentum to leap up to the lowest branch that looked like it could take his weight. He monkeyed up a bit further then when he was as close as he could safely get, jumped in the direction of the window. Maybe it didn’t go as smoothly as he imagined it in his head, and he might have banged against the wall harder than he wanted, with his fingers clinging a little too desperately onto the window ledge, but he managed to hang on, pull himself up through the gap and have enough breath left to deliver the brilliant line, ‘Consider this couples counselling un-voided! I’m here!’

A man lounging across a heap of bean bags on the floor burst out clapping and laughing. Under normal circumstances that man would have claimed all of Naruto’s attention just because of his appearance; he was of a large build to begin with but had doubled his size with a mass of white hair that surrounded his head like a big hat and fell in thick waves all the way down his back. He had a friendly trustworthy face that looked like it was used to smiling a lot, but his eyes were intelligent and gave the sense that they didn’t miss much.

However, this wasn’t normal circumstances, this was a counselling session he was seriously late for, and in the room was the person who always magnetised all Naruto’s attention. He only glanced at the big jolly man, instead gazing shyly at where Sasuke knelt on a small navy cushion. The Uchiha was perfectly poised, staring downwards as if he was deep in meditation and was completely unaware that Naruto had arrived.

‘Counselling is un-voided, I made it,’ Naruto said with slightly less confidence. He tried to explain why he was late without mentioning Kiba doing criminal damage, which turned out to be impossible. In the end he just murmured. ‘Maybe, yaknow, I can make the time up afterwards?’

‘This isn’t school, you don’t get to make up time in a detention.’ Sasuke said with derision. ‘Dr Sanin is a highly sought after professional who doesn’t mould his schedule around idiots who can’t tell the time.’

‘Nonsense! My whole job is scheduled around worse idiocrasies than being a bit late. I’ve got no one after you so you two can stay as long as you like. Besides it’d feel like I was ripping off Itachi if I billed him for just sitting in silence with this one. I hope you’re more chatty than your husband?’ The man flashed him a grin that was both reassuring and encouraging.

‘I’m afraid I am, Dr Sanin, Sasuke complains all the time that I talk too much.’

‘No such thing in this room. And call me Jiraiya, Are you happy for me to call you Naruto, or is there another name you prefer?’

‘Naruto’s his name, he certainly won’t be Mr Uchiha for much longer,’ Sasuke said continuing to gaze at the floor as if it was far more interesting than either of the other occupants of the room.

‘Now, that’s not a very positive attitude, Sasuke. With your husband here, and clearly making a dramatic entrance to impress and amuse you, I can tell that I’ll be easily able to sort you two out within this hour. You are about to see why I am so legendary.’ He stretched his arms out in front of him. ‘Let’s get to work, boys.’

Sasuke deigned not to say anything, and all Naruto could do was mumble about how he’d had to climb the tree as no one answered the buzzer, not because he’d wanted to _impress_ Sasuke.

‘Naruto,’ Jiraiya interrupted him, ‘Grab a cushion and make yourself comfortable.’

From a huge pile by the door, Naruto chose a green one that had a toad face on it and came and sat down by Sasuke. He pressed his feet together and spread his knees out, trying not to blush and look awkward when his left knee landed on top of Sasuke’s right one when the blonde opened his legs out.

‘This room is huge, why are you sitting on top of me, idiot!’ Sasuke snapped.

‘I thought, yaknow, as we’re getting counselling together, we should be like close to each other.’ Naruto found his hand moving to rub the back of his head in his customary nervous gesture, but managed to stop himself in time, pretending to scratch his ear instead.

The truth was after listening to Tobirama’s rant, and all the horrible things he’d said and implied about Sasuke, Naruto was desperate just to be close to Sasuke as if his husband’s presence could reassure and cleanse Naruto. The blonde felt like he’d betrayed Sasuke to help Kiba, the only comfort was that he knew that if Sasuke had any emotion at all at being the subject of Tobirama’s hate attack, it would be amusement that the man was so impotently irritated by him.

‘Being close to me, doesn’t mean sitting on me,’ Sasuke said in his most annoying, superior Uchiha voice.

‘I’m hardly sitting on you, if I was sitting on you, you’d fucking know I was sitting on you.’ Naruto didn’t quite know how it’d descended so fast into him swearing at Sasuke, but it reminded him of too many occasions when the same thing had happened. He’d approached his husband in goodwill and total friendliness and within a minute they were at each other’s throats. And not in the sexy way. ‘If you’ve got such a problem with my knee lightly brushing against you, if you’re such a sensitive little flower, then I’ll move right over to the other side of the room where I won’t disturb the princess’s personal space.’

Naruto made the smallest movement to get up, but Sasuke’s hand whipped out clamping down on Naruto’s knee.

‘Stay where you are,’ Sasuke hissed.

‘What the hell, bastard? You want me to get away from you, and then you don’t want me to move? Make your freaking mind up!’ Naruto hoped the gruffness of his voice would sound like anger, rather than Sasuke being able to interpret it correctly as due to the heat that was rushing to his groin from his husband’s firm touch.

‘I’m not going to let your overinflated ego increase even further from the mistaken belief I am flustered by you touching me. Be certain that I don’t care that your knee is touching mine, in fact, if you weren’t such an oath throwing yourself so heavily on the floor, I wouldn’t even have noticed it.’

Sasuke made his little snooty ‘hnnn’ sound as if there was nothing else to be said about it and looked like he was going to fold his arms, but just as the Uchiha had moved quickly to stop Naruto’s knee moving, Naruto now shot out and held Sasuke’s hand down under his own.

‘If you don’t care about my knee touching yours, than I definitely don’t care about your hand touching me. You can leave it there as long as you like and I won’t notice it any more than you notice my knee.’ Naruto was staring defiantly into Sasuke’s dark angry eyes. ‘You can like do whatever you want with it, yaknow, stroke it up and down my thigh or whatever, and I won’t care a bit.’

Sasuke smirked. ‘Really?’

‘Really!’ Naruto removed his hands from holding Sasuke’s, allowing the other man free reign to do whatever he would.

As he met his husband’s gaze though he realised he wasn’t quite feeling so defiant. There was a feeling in his stomach, what did people call it…butterflies? That swirling nervousness when you were unsure if something really scary or really amazing was about to happen. Maybe Sasuke was feeling something similar, as the Uchiha wasn’t immediately running his hands over Naruto’s legs but was just tentatively stretching his fingers out.

‘So this is going to be even easier than I thought,’ a happy voice boomed out.

Naruto jumped, somehow he’d forgotten where they were, what they were doing here and that there was another person in the room. His embarrassment was only slightly lessened by seeing that Sasuke’s eyes widened in surprise, he’d got lost in their bickering as much as the blonde had.

Both men adjusted how they were sitting so they were no longer touching, Naruto gave his husband a couple of sideways glances to see if he was going to be ordered to sit further away again, but Sasuke said nothing and Naruto settled where he was, close but not _so_ close to Sasuke.

‘You two seem to have warmed yourself up.’ Jiraiya grinned widely. ‘I’m just going to give you a bit of professional guidance to continue with the progress.’

Naruto bit his lip to stop himself asking ‘What progress?’ Sasuke hadn’t been close to civil yet, and Naruto had added to his lateness by almost immediately shouting and taunting his husband? But he didn’t want to look stupid, or any more stupid, in front of his husband who had resumed his normal arrogant composure.

‘Ok, are you ready, boys? Good,’ Jiraiya said without waiting for either of them to reply. ‘On the count of three I want you both to answer at the same time what you think is the most important thing in a relationship..One..Two…Three.’

‘Companionship,’ Sasuke said quietly.

‘Ramen,’ Naruto said loudly. Then blushed bright red as Sasuke rolled his eyes and even the friendly Jiraiya gave a confused frown.

‘I mean, I didn’t mean to say that…it just slipped out…I don’t think ramen is the most important thing…of course, I don’t think…can we have another go?’

‘It’s not a computer game, this is real life, you don’t get a redo on all your mistakes and stupidities,’ Sasuke said. ‘You say stupid things, we all hear them, and it’s proof of why you’re here, to humiliate me further and make a joke out of our whole marriage before you cash in your nice fat divorce cheque.’

‘You’re wrong, Sasuke, I take the fact that you’re both here as a sign that you’re giving each other a ‘redo’ if you want to use that word.’ Jiraiya was momentarily serious. ‘I personally prefer the words ‘forgiveness’ and ‘understanding’. If Naruto says something he doesn’t mean to say, we’ve got plenty of time and patience to listen to his real thoughts.’ He gave Naruto a reassuring smile. On the count of three again, what is the most important thing in a relationship. One. Two. Three.’

‘Trust,’ Sasuke said quietly.

‘Ramen!’ Naruto shouted out even louder than before. Naruto dropped his face in his hands.

‘Oh for God’s sake, how many times do we have to do this before you accept he’s just here for the money?’ Sasuke said. ‘Do you not mind him mocking your professionalism in this way?’

 ‘Look at your husband.’ Jiraiya said. ‘You know him better than me, does he look like someone who is making a joke, or someone who is trying his best and getting upset?’

‘Hnnn,’ Sasuke snorted. ‘He has shouted out ramen twice now, I think it is clear that whatever is important to him in a relationship, it isn’t me.’

‘Sasuke! Do as I say, turn to him and connect with him.’ Jiraiya’s voice was stern and commanding, but it softened when he addressed the blonde. ‘Naruto, don’t be concerned, the quick fire questions, don’t suit everyone, just take your time and explain why you think you said ‘ramen’, and what you meant to say. Sasuke is listening to you and isn’t going to interrupt you.’

Naruto looked between his fingers at where Sasuke had turned so he was kneeling towards the blonde instead of the counsellor. His face was its usual mask of indifference, but his eyes revealed how annoyed he was.

Naruto looked away from his husband towards the warm encouraging face of the counsellor. If it had just been him and Sasuke they probably would have been in a full blown argument at this point, but there was something about Jiraiya that was authoritative enough to get Sasuke to at least give the semblance of obedience, and something else that was warm enough to make Naruto long to be worthy of the patience he was showing him.

Naruto dropped his hands on his knees and forced himself to sit up tall and speak entirely honestly as he’d vowed to do since the very first one. ‘I’m trying desperately not to say ‘sex’ as I don’t want Sasuke to think that’s all I think about when I think about him. I think he got upset at our last session because I was really obviously…ummm…admiring him. I don’t know why I keep saying ‘ramen’.

‘Ok, we’re come back to how important sex is in a minute, but first, kid, try and think, do you have any particular memories with Sasuke, or indeed any other relationship, involving ramen?’

Naruto rubbed a hand through his hair. ‘I don’t think if it’s kind of really relevant at all, if it’s what you mean? But when I was in the orphanage, things started to change for me when Iruka started. Iruka was this really cool adult and he knew I found things difficult and didn’t really have any friends, and he’d like stay after he finished his official hours, and he knew that I often didn’t get much to eat at the proper meal times because the other kids bullied me and stole my stuff and I kept getting pulled out for fighting when I tried to stick up for myself. And anyway, Iruka ordered like takeaway, pretending he was really hungry himself, but it was like really because he knew how hungry I was, and ramen was his favourite and it became mine too.’

Jiraiya gave a warm smile. ‘Everything you feel like sharing, is relevant. This especially. It sounds like Iruka was both your first friend and perhaps a father figure?’

Naruto nodded. ‘And like ramen’s remained my favourite, it still reminds me of those times I guess somehow.’

‘Does this make more sense to you now, Sasuke? Your husband wasn’t mocking you, but feeling slightly pressured, his brain immediately went to a safe and happy relationship. Food has been important in human relationships throughout all of known history, it was a natural thing for Naruto to think of.’

Sasuke shrugged. ‘How am I supposed to know ramen’s so significant to him if he’s never told me before?’

Something flicked in Jiraiya’s eyes, but Naruto couldn’t read what it was.

‘You said when we got together,’ Naruto said daring to address Sasuke directly in a quiet but firm voice, ‘that the past didn’t matter, that you didn’t care, that all that mattered was that I was yours now and our future was together.’

‘And were you happy with him saying he didn’t care about your past?’ Jiraiya asked.

‘Yes, definitely,’ Naruto replied immediately. ‘I was glad to leave it all behind me and that he never asked me any questions. I wanted to start fresh and new with him.’

Jiraiya nodded.

‘I _know_ him, without needing to know the specifics of his whole life,’ Sasuke said. ‘He talks so much I am sure he’s told me everything that he wants to by now. He’s probably never even thought about this ramen thing before you prodded him to say it.’

There was something in Sasuke’s tone that was very unSasuke-like, and Jiraiya was gazing at the Uchiha in a manner that made Naruto squirm. Sasuke had mentioned something about this not being school earlier, but right now Naruto did feel like he was sitting in front of the genial but strict headmaster and he’d inadvertently put his best friend in line for a massive telling off. 

Jiraiya’s voice remained jovial though. ‘Naruto, you mentioned trying not to say ‘sex’ as the most important thing in the relationship. Is this a problem area for you and Sasuke?’

‘No,’ Sasuke snapped.

‘My speciality is in fact in sex therapy.’ Jiraiya spoke as if he hadn’t heard Sasuke. ‘You mustn’t think it is a trivial or frivolous thing to talk about or make complaints about. It’s often a good indicator of the emotional state of a relationship as a whole. It is interesting to me that the two greatest causes for divorce are money and sex, and both of those have been mentioned in this very early phase of our counselling.’ Jiraiya smiled. ‘For me this is a good thing, as sometimes it can take a surprising amount of time to get down to the crux of the relationship problem, which as I said is generally, money or sex. So if you are open enough to talk about these things straight away, like I said, that is a very good sign.’

Naruto took a deep breath, he was aware of how hot his cheeks were, but he was encouraged by Jiraiya’s words to speak as honestly as he could.

‘Sasuke is an amazing lover. Right from the beginning until well, until I walked out on him, sex has been perfect.’ For some reason he couldn’t look at Sasuke as he spoke, but he could stare into the friendly face of the stranger. ‘He like does so many things to please me. In other parts of life I feel like I’m a burden, or an embarrassment, but when we’re in bed I feel like he…worships me.’ Naruto’s blush deepened. ‘I don’t think…I’m not sure if that’s the right word…’

‘How do you feel like he worships you?’

‘If…um…if he is feeling hotter for me, than I am for him, yaknow, it doesn’t happen that often, because, well, he’s looks like a greek god, but when it does happen, he never pressures me. He’ll take a long time kissing and caressing me. He does this thing that I really like where he just laps his tongue against um, yaknow, the crevice at the bottom of my back before um..before…my hole and…’

‘You don’t have to go into details, fool, he just wants a general idea,’ Sasuke hissed.

‘Details are great,’ Jiraiya overruled the Uchiha. ‘The more you’re comfortable with sharing the better picture we have.’

Naruto couldn’t risk looking at his husband or he was sure he wouldn’t be able to say another word. ‘And he likes us to come together and is so good with his timing, but if I come first, he doesn’t like continue for his own…pleasure. He stops and holds and cuddles me and slowly builds things up until I want to go again.’

‘Do you often have multiple orgasms?’ Jiraiya asked as casually as if he was asking about the weather.

Naruto nodded eagerly. That was an easy question. ‘I come more than Sasuke does. Because I can come and get hard again pretty fast, whereas Sas likes to hold on for as long as he can and then comes really hard. But sometimes he comes and he’ll ask if I can suck him hard again and then…’

‘How exactly is this helping anything?’ Sasuke’s voice would sound like complete indifference to anyone but Naruto who could hear the edge of emotion threatening to break through every word. What Naruto couldn’t tell was what that emotion was, was he angry, or annoyed, or something else entirely different?

‘Can you share why this conversation is making you uncomfortable?’ Jiraiya asked. ‘Naruto is being complementary to you, but more than that he is being bravely open, taking the decision that he wants to give everything he can to this counselling session and make it a success even though it is obvious he is not used to talking about his sex life and considers it a private matter.’

Sasuke made a noise of exasperation. Naruto forced himself not to look at his husband.

‘Please,’ the Uchiha said. ‘You’ve known my husband for minutes, not even hours, _minutes_ , and suddenly you’re an expert on all his motivations and inner thoughts? You said money was a prime reason for divorce, so why don’t you start asking him about how much Itachi promised to pay him off if he gave a convincing performance in these sessions?’

Naruto swallowed. ‘Sasuke, I know you’re here because you do everything Itachi asks you. You know I am here because Kiba and I could really use the money to help a lot of animals and do a lot of good. But I’m trying my best to think that maybe counselling could help us. I want _you_ more than I want anything else.’

The room was silent for a moment, then Sasuke gave his most contemptuous laugh.

‘Yes, you want me so much you walked out on me and have refused to come back. Dr Sanin, do your job and go back to talking about sex, at least he is more convincing on that subject than his lies about money.’

Naruto hands clenched into fists, the only thing that held him back from laying into his husband was the respect he instinctively felt for Jiraiya. He didn’t want to get into a punch up in the therapist’s room, despite Sasuke deliberately provoking him. The Uchiha knew questioning the blonde’s honour, integrity and honesty, was a surefire way to switch Naruto straight from serene to raging.

‘Naruto,’ Jiraiya said, pronouncing his name as if he was the most important person in the room. ‘Do you want to continue discussing the sexual side of your relationship or would you like to start to explore some of the other issues that have just been raised by your husband?’

‘Whatever you think is best, Jiraiya,’ Naruto managed to say in a calmish voice. ‘I’ve always been really happy sexually with Sasuke, maybe too happy, it’s everything else that’s the problem.’

‘What do you mean by too happy?’ Jiraiya asked.

‘Yes, Naruto, please fully explain what you mean by _too happy_? Please do go into intimate details about everything that we do in the privacy of our bedroom. Or is it my turn now? Should I tell this complete stranger how your favourite thing is to be hogtied and roughly fucked? Shall I share all the little things you beg me to do and…’

‘Sasuke, perhaps, you could _share_ with us why you are being so hostile,’ Jiraiya said firmly.

‘I’m doing exactly what you’re praising him for doing; _bravely_ opening up about our sex life.’

‘Naruto, was being honest, you’re trying to humiliate him. Do you think your husband’s liking for bondage is something to be ashamed of?’

The room was entirely silent. Naruto couldn’t look at Sasuke. He glanced at Jiraiya who gave him a warm smile that already felt familiar, but he deliberately turned his head away from the Uchiha so he wouldn’t even see him by accident.

‘Are you naturally sexually dominant or is that a role you play to please your lover?’ Jiraiya asked.

Naruto slumped slightly. He had never even considered that Sasuke didn’t really like tying him up and it was just something he did for Naruto’s benefit. The thought that his husband wanted to please him should have made him happy, but instead it made him want to cry. Was this counselling thing actually going to show the full truth of how much they were unsuited for each other, rather than reveal how they could be reunited?

‘Is it something that you experimented with previously? Did you engage in similar practises with lovers before you met your husband?’

Sasuke still refused to say anything.

‘I…it’s not that much part of what we do…just something now and again,’ Naruto burbled out. ‘We, yaknow, flipfuck all the time, and sometimes I’m more in charge, and sometimes him, and it’s…all amazing. But the…um, tying up thing, it’s not even my most favourite thing. I like sleepy sex. When he has something early to do for work, but he comes back to bed and holds me and I slowly wake up as he kisses me and put his hands around my…’

‘That’s enough. Idiot.’ Sasuke spoke as if his lips weren’t moving.

‘How does Sasuke compare with your previous lovers?’ Jiraiya asked casually.

Naruto shrugged. Without looking he could feel his husband like a tangible ball of angry energy next to him.

‘Speak freely, Naruto. Don’t be scared, you have to be able to be honest with each other to move forward and often, although we may not think about them, previous relationships to affect our current one.’

Naruto shook his head. ‘No, that’s not a problem. There was no one for me before Sasuke.’

Naruto sensed Sasuke turning to stare at him, although he still avoided looking at his husband.

‘Was Sasuke your first proper relationship?’ Jiraiya asked.

‘Sasuke was my _first_ relationship.’ Naruto shrugged again.

‘All you had was one night stands before me?’ Sasuke’s voice was tense.

‘I had nothing. I was, yaknow, a virgin before we met.’

‘You expect me to believe that I was your first man?’ The Uchiha made no effort to disguise the incredulity from his voice. ‘I was there fucking you, you knew exactly what you were doing.’

‘You were my first everything. I hadn’t done anything before you, not even a kiss.’ There was a growl to Naruto’s voice. Why was Sasuke making an issue out of this?

‘Looking like you do, being as confident as you are, and you’re trying to pretend you were a virgin? What the hell for? What’s happened to you in the last six months? Whatever else, you were always honest, but now you’re making up all these lies? Have you got a crush on Dr Sanin? Are you trying to impress him with your little stories? Because I can think of no other reason for your idiocy.’

Naruto’s head snapped around and he glared at his husband. ‘I wasn’t exactly a popular guy, okay? Is that what you want me to say?’

Sasuke made a derisory noise. ‘You are always surrounded by people, you call every loser within a hundred miles your _friend_ , and fuck knows there’s a never-ending supply of them, but you’re trying to play at being a poor lonely kid in front of the counsellor.’ He moved his face close to the blonde’s. ‘What is your game, Naruto?’

‘I had to, I have to, work really hard to make those friendships work. Every person who was nice to me was like a miracle. I wasn’t ready…I never thought about taking things further. Then with you it all kinda happened immediately and I didn’t have to think or worry or get nervous, we were just together and it was right.’ Naruto wished that they were running around a field with Gai or piling stones up with Ino. Anything but this. His heart thumped and there were beads of sweat on his forehead. He was being as honest as he could and Sasuke was looking at him with pure hate.

‘Are you hoping Jiraiya is going to report back to Itachi about how horrible I am and what a pathetic mess you are? You think a sob story will get some bigger numbers scribbled on your divorce cheque? Is that it?’ Sasuke grabbed the front of Naruto’s top and twisted it around his fist.

‘Sasuke, take some time out to calm down,’ Jiriaya ordered.

 ‘I remember perfectly when we met. You breaking into my house with your little friends, on some pseudo eco crusade, them all running off, and you staying. Not like some innocent little scared virgin boy, but a fully grown twenty year old adult, who knew exactly what he wanted and how to get it.’

Naruto clamped his hand around Sasuke’s wrist and jerked it away from his t-shirt. Sasuke’s grip on the cloth was so tight that he tore material away.

Naruto pretended not to notice, he kept his gaze fixed on his husband. ‘If you remember so perfectly, you know I was nineteen, it was a couple of weeks before my birthday, which you will also remember perfectly we celebrated together. It’s not that odd to be a virgin at nineteen.’ A little of the angry certainty went out of his voice, and he asked, ‘Is it?’

Sasuke stood up and gazed down at the blonde. ‘Everything about you is _odd_. Fuck knows how I fell for your act for so long.’

For the second time in only three sessions, Sasuke strode out of the counselling room alone. Was it any sign of progress that at least he didn’t ask for a date from their counsellor this time?

Naruto did the zip of his hoodie up to cover the tear in his t-shirt and looked shyly at Jiraiya. ‘Sorry. We kinda argue a lot…which I guess is why counselling is never going to help us?’

Jiraiya came and sat beside Naruto with a sigh. He pulled a chocolate bar out of his pocket and split it in two giving half to the blonde.

‘It’s incredibly unprofessional of me to say this, but I don’t think you’re the type to tell on me. I like you, kid, but I think your husband is a douche. How about you spend the rest of our time, telling me why I’m wrong?’

Naruto chewed the chocolate for a lot longer than necessary, it was like tasteless cardboard in his mouth. ‘You’re probably not wrong. There’s a lot of people who agree with you.’

‘But you’re not one of them. What was this immediate attraction between you?’ Jiraiya gave a small chuckle. ‘Did you really break into his house? I’d have him as the type who would prosecute anyone who damaged his property to hell and back, not someone who’d see vandals as potential boyfriends!’

Naruto chatted to Jiraiya, answering all of his questions in a friendly way. But his thoughts were distant from the words he was saying. He couldn’t remember things as clearly from their first meeting as Sasuke claimed to. There were just vivid images that didn’t always seem to be connected. The excited thrill of planning with Kiba and the gang about making some sort of protest at the Uchiha house. Things getting a bit out of hand and breaking in and starting to wreck stuff. Then a man appearing in the doorway holding a sword, not in an attacking stance, but casually by his side. Everyone else running and Naruto remaining totally captivated. It wasn’t how handsome the man was, Naruto noticed that later, it was how absolutely composed he was; in a room full of hostile chaos he was as still and calm as if he was a god and no one else could touch him. Naruto was immediately filled with an overwhelming desire to just bask in the man’s aura, but simultaneously he also yearned more than he’d yearned for anything in his whole life, to be the one who could disturb the icy surface and see the man’s true emotions. Which is maybe how and why, Naruto, who up to that point hadn’t even kissed anyone, spent the rest of the day doing things with Sasuke that had never even been in his fantasies before.

He’d only ever thought of girls, and he had dreamed _a lot_ about cuddling up with big breasted girls, anal sex, even with a woman had never even crossed his mind. But nothing he’d ever imagined turned him on even a fraction of the amount of that day when he found himself lying on his back with his feet on Sasuke’s shoulders, or the slim shapely curve of Sasuke buttocks bent over in front of him, and then the pure peace of resting his head on Sasuke’s toned chest. 

Jiraiya was an amazing person, but even as he smiled and chatted to the other man, Naruto couldn’t help wishing that he wasn’t here. That he hadn’t fucked things up with Sasuke, that somehow he had managed to keep hold of that amazing chemistry they’d had from the first moment they met. And instead of sitting single in a couples counselling session they were together in bed holding and teasing each other certain that they were each other’s forever.

***

 

Sasuke stormed out of the room. He blazed with anger and saw nothing but red. The first definite thing he focused on was Naruto’s bicycle lying discarded in the car park. Sasuke got in his car and without thinking reversed over the bike, drove forward and reversed over the bike again. The crunching of the metal was satisfying. He smirked imagining how distraught the blonde would be when he came out and saw his precious bike ruined.

But a moment later he gave a howl of anguish imagining how distraught Naruto would be when he came out and saw his only means of transport destroyed by his husband.

Sasuke thumped his hands against the steering wheel. Why did he let this man affect him so much? What the hell had Naruto been doing? Arriving so late that Sasuke had been stewing in the humiliation that his husband hated him so much, that two hours of Sasuke’s company had been more than enough and he wasn’t willing to see him for the last three sessions despite the financial pay out Itachi promised him.

Although that had at least made sense and matched the man he knew. From the moment Naruto had swung through the window like some hero out of a comic book, Sasuke had been confused. If Naruto was so desperate to make the meeting he climbed trees rather than waited for someone to answer the buzzer, why hadn’t he made the effort to turn up on time? He’d mumbled some stupid non-excuse about having to talk to someone, then deliberately and knowingly tantalised Sasuke by sitting as close to him as possible while talking completely unnecessarily about their sex life. Why would Naruto share such intimate details with a stranger, unless he wanted to mock and taunt Sasuke?

It was common knowledge that Sasuke was a private person and common assumption that he was hard and emotionless. Sasuke had made it clear very early in their relationship that the former was a fact, but had trusted Naruto and revealed to the blonde both his true passion and his deep vulnerabilities. And Naruto was going to use that against him. How had he made such a misjudgement in believing in the blonde’s integrity and honour? He thumped the steering wheel again. Or was the real situation, that Sasuke’d fucked up so badly in their relationship, that good, happy Naruto had got so twisted up that all he wanted was revenge on the man that broke his heart?

Sasuke pressed his hands to his head. Already he had a throbbing headache, and that was before he tried to understand the randomness of Naruto lying about being a virgin.

There was a small tap on the window. Then another.

Sasuke turned his head slowly to see the blonde there, smiling tentatively. Naruto made a sign for Sasuke to wind the window down. Sasuke sighed but obeyed, the last thing he could deal with now is Naruto shouting more of their business out in his loud voice.

‘Thanks for waiting for me,’ Naruto said still with the tentative smile.

‘I wasn’t waiting for you, I just hadn’t left yet,’ Sasuke replied flatly.

‘Oh. Well, um, it’s still…good to see you. I wanted to talk to you alone before the counselling thing, yaknow, but things went…a bit wrong.’

Sasuke could feel the beat of his heart becoming more rapid at the idea of Naruto wanting to be alone with him, but after the disaster of the counselling session reminded himself that this was all probably part of whatever odd game the blonde was playing. It was so difficult to look into those big blue eyes and not believe everything he said though.

‘Yes. You said you were held up as you had someone to talk to.’

Naruto shrugged and shook his head. ‘I know, I was nervous about saying in front of Jiraiya, but it turns out we’re on the same wavelength about the environment, so I should have just been upfront. Kiba got caught out spraying Tobirama Senju’s car, and all I had to do to get Kiba off the hook was stand there listening to him badmouth you. It sounds easy, right? But it’s left me feeling really…I don’t know…rank. Can’t believe I almost missed seeing you because I had to listen to someone talk crap about you.’

Naruto’s voice was so genuine that Sasuke was struggling to hold onto his anger. There were several things Sasuke could have replied, but he found himself gazing forward, unable to meet Naruto’s eyes and asking in a quiet voice, ‘What did you want to talk to me alone about?’

Naruto’s reply was hesitant. ‘I’ve been thinking, like, a bit, about the last session, with Gai, yaknow…and at the end, what you said…about the cycling thing together…and maybe, yaknow, I didn’t…we could…yaknow…’Naruto took an audible breath and then spoke in his normal confident voice. ‘Sasuke, do you want to go somewhere and just talk properly the two of us?’

‘Yes.’ Sasuke’s mouth was totally dry and his heart was thumping as if he’d done hours in the gym.

‘I’ll just grab my bike.’ Naruto took a couple of steps away from the car and looked around. ‘I left it here somewhere…I was in a real hurry as I was so late…I just like threw it down… you don’t think someone stole it do you, Sas?’

‘No,’ Sasuke’s voice was barely a whisper.

‘Fuck.’ Naruto’s gaze finally found the remains of metal at the back of Sasuke’s car. ‘Sasuke…did you accidentally or deliberately wreck my bike?’

‘Deliberately.’ Sasuke forced himself to watch as Naruto woefully picked up pieces of his bike. ‘I’ll buy you a brand new one obviously, top of the range, whatever you want.’

Naruto cursed for a while before he bothered to reply to his husband. ‘You never get it, do you? You can’t always just throw money at a problem as if it’s a cure-all bandaid. And if you knew anything at all about me, you’d know that what I’d want would be second hand and recycled, not brand new, top of the range and…’

Sasuke started his car up and drove a few yards forward telling himself that there was absolutely no reason in hell he had to listen to one of the blonde’s lectures anymore. Then he slammed the brakes down. There was every reason in hell he had to listen to everything Naruto said.

He got out of the car and walked over to Naruto and looked him square in the eye.

‘I’m sorry. I lost my temper. I’ve been on edge since you left and am struggling to keep it together.’

Naruto swore some more but not so virulently. ‘Don’t be blaming your anger problems on me leaving, you’ve always been the same.’

‘I don’t have an anger problem, you lose your temper more often than I do,’ Sasuke snapped.

‘Maybe we’ve both got problems then.’ Naruto dropped the bits of bike he was holding onto the ground. ‘Though I think I just shout a bit, not purposely destroy things.’

‘You destroyed our relationship.’

‘I didn’t destroy it. I was just the one who left,’ Naruto said quietly. ‘Hey, it’s done though. You be on your way. I’m sure you’re busy. I can sort this out myself.’

It took Sasuke a moment to realise his husband had swapped from talking about their relationship to his bike.

‘I’ll give you a lift,’ he said, purposely framing it as an order rather than an offer. Sometimes Naruto responded better to firmness. And sometimes it just made him kick off.

The blonde looked at him with a frown as if he was deciding which way to go, rather than following his immediate emotions as he normally did.

‘I can walk,’ he finally said.

‘It’s too far. And on dangerous roads. I shouldn’t even be allowing you to cycle.’

‘As long as you’re not driving behind me I’ll be fine.’

A little colour warmed Sasuke’s cheeks. He was surprised in truth they’d gone so long without either of them mentioning the incident of his near miss. ‘I’m sorry…I felt truly awful.’

‘So awful that you didn’t bother to apologise until I mentioned it?’ Naruto crossed his arms.

‘Yes,’ Sasuke replied simply. ‘So awful I’m too ashamed to mention it. I was hoping that when things were a bit more normal between us…I could make it up to you.’ The sexual suggestiveness came automatically to his voice and his blush deepened. He mentally crossed his fingers that it hadn’t undercut his genuine attempt at an apology.

Naruto stared down at the ground. ‘Just go please, Sas. I’ll phone a friend, get a lift if it makes you feel better than me walking this time, but, yaknow, for the future, I’m not your problem.’

‘You’re never my _problem_ , idiot, you’re the one thing that makes everything worthwhile.’

Naruto met Sasuke’s eyes, his lips were parted but he didn’t say anything.

With his heart thumping, Sasuke reached out and took Naruto’s hand. The blonde’s skin was warm to the touch and heat pulsed through the Uchiha’s whole body. ‘I’ll drive you home. If nothing else, it makes ecological sense, why cause the extra pollution of someone having to drive out here, when I am already here? And, I hope you noticed my new car, not only is it smaller, it is a hybrid so much more fuel efficient.’ Naruto didn’t say anything, but neither did he pull away. ‘I’m having my people look into the possibilities of biofuel, solar and zero emission electric cars. Although apparently some of these vehicles are so quiet children don’t hear them and are in danger of being run over, so extra trees but less kids.’ The dry sarcasm slipped out, but Naruto just gave him a wry smile.

‘Trust you to use an argument between us as a reason to buy yet another new car.’

Sasuke smirked. He was glad the blonde didn’t realise how true his words were, even he himself had lost track of how many cars he’d bought only to exchange them for another one the next week, or sometimes not even exchange, just leaving them in the garage and straight buying a new one. He’d have to trim his vehicles down to a reasonable number before Naruto returned.

His eyes widened slightly at how casually and certainly he had the last thought. Since the counselling had started it had made the rift between them seem wider and divorce more definite, but he still was unwilling, or unable, to accept he’d lost the blonde for good.

Perhaps Naruto noticed and responded to something in Sasuke’s expression, because he gave a shrug and agreed to the lift. ‘I guess I did want to talk to you before, yaknow, I saw you’d trashed my bike.’

But after Naruto had placed the remains of his bike in the boot, (during which Sasuke showed remarkable restraint and managed not to ask what the blonde planned to do with what was basically junk, nor did he physically flinch at the oil from the bike chain getting all over Naruto’s clothes and being rubbed into the car’s upholstery when Naruto clambered into the passenger seat), the naturally chatty man sat in total silence.

Sasuke struggled to think of something safe to converse about as he drove. In the end he went straight to the point and asked, ‘Why did you pretend you were a virgin in the counselling session?’

Naruto made a few grunting and growling noises before he replied. ‘ _Why_ do you think I’m lying when you know I don’t lie, especially not to you?’

‘It’s because you’re so honest that I know it’s not true. How could we be together for so long without you saying something like that to me?’

An expression of hurt concern settled on the blonde’s face. His voice was defensive but also looking for reassurance. ‘You were the one who said nothing before mattered, that you didn’t care about my previous lovers.’

‘Which would have been the point where you’d have corrected me and said that you didn’t have any previous lovers if it was really the case that you were a virgin.’

‘You were spooked enough when, yaknow, after everything we did, you asked me how old I was, and you acted like being nineteen was some sort of disease or something. I had to spend ages going on about how I was basically twenty as it was so close to my birthday. I could hardly then add, _oh by the way, I was a virgin this morning_ , could I? You’d have burst a blood vessel.’

‘So you’re admitting you deliberately misled me and have continued to mislead me through our whole relationship?’ Sharp pain jolted across the front of Sasuke’s head but he maintained the calm of his voice.

Naruto banged his head back against the headrest. ‘It wasn’t like that. You know it wasn’t like that. I don’t think I’ve ever even thought about it until today. It just didn’t matter, none of the crap of my earlier life mattered, once I was in your arms. You felt the same, didn’t you? I know things have gone wrong, but right at the beginning, you loved me and felt the same as I did, that you and me together was how it was always meant to be? That we completed each other?’ Naruto made a sound between a groan and a sigh. He tilted his head to gaze at his husband. ‘Have I fucked up so badly I didn’t even realise I fucked up? I don’t get the significance of me not telling you I was a virgin? It still seems totally unimportant to me, things were so intense and real between us, what does it matter that you were my first? But I can see you’re really hurt by this, and I’m sorry for that.’ His voice softened. ‘Can you explain to your idiot former husband why it matters so much, so, yaknow, I don’t screw up other relationships in my life without even realising it?’

‘You’re not my former husband, you’re my current husband.’ It was all Sasuke could manage to say. He wanted to add ‘and you’ll be my only husband’, but he could not form the words.

He wished Naruto had lied to Jiraiya for some crazy reason, rather than Sasuke had been misled for all their time together.

He remembered so clearly their first meeting. Sasuke had retreated to the Uchiha summer house because, despite the weather remaining mild, it had been shut up for the season. He’d craved quiet and needed to be alone. His plan had been to catch up on some work, not his own, he was always ahead with that, but periodically he went through his subordinates files to ensure standards weren’t slipping. But instead when he arrived, he immediately undressed and buried himself under the covers in his bedroom.

At midday his peace had been broken by a hullaballoo coming from downstairs. Quickly, but calmly, he’d pulled on some lounge pants, taken the katana he’d inherited from his grandfather off the wall, and went to investigate.

In the conservatory he discovered a motley group splattering red and black paint haphazardly around the room. Even though they outnumbered him, as soon as they noticed him standing in the doorway, they all ran like cowards. Except for one man. The man that Sasuke’s eyes had focused on instantly and who had kept him still and watching, rather than rushing in and immediately dispersing the rough group.

The man was tall, the definition of his muscles clearly visible through clothes that appeared to have been borrowed from someone smaller and skinnier. He had a shock of messy sun bleached hair and a healthy tan that meant he would have fitted in perfectly on a beach with the type of surfer slacker type that Sasuke despised. But there were scars on his cheeks that undercut his model blue eyed Adonis looks and interested Sasuke far more than if he’d been flawless.

However, Sasuke was used to possessing people who met his aesthetic ideal, the man’s body alone would have only made him pause for the briefest moment, it was the aura surrounding the blonde that was making Sasuke stop and gaze at him.

The man seemed both at the centre and entirely separate from the chaotic scene. Everyone was shouting, and he was the noisiest, but he somehow seemed uncertain as if he didn’t belong. Sasuke stared at him, trying to pinpoint why he was getting this sense off the blonde, everything in the man’s body language, stance and voice was pure confidence, but the longer Sasuke looked at him, the more the Uchiha was sure that the blonde had deep insecurities.

He reasoned that it was probably just the nervousness of breaking and entering, he wasn’t a natural criminal. Yet when his friends ran and the man remained, Sasuke found himself even more intrigued by this rare person who wasn’t scared of him. The fact he stood his ground when deserted by his companions should have totally evaporated Sasuke’s inexplicable sense that the man was tentative, but somehow it reinforced it.

Standing alone the blonde turned his full attention on Sasuke and smiled the brightest smile that Sasuke had ever seen. Sasuke’s heart felt like it stopped, he worried his whole body had turned into one big crimson blush, and for the first time in his life he was suddenly aware of the true effect that he had on other people. This wanting to run and jump and giggle and fall prostrate on the ground before another person all at the same time, _this_ was what made so many people act like fools around him. Now he was experiencing it because a complete stranger had smiled at him. And the only thing he knew for definite fact about this complete stranger was that he had vandalised the Uchiha summer house.

He put far more effort into remaining composed than it usually took.

‘Hi,’ the man said with the same smile. ‘I’m Naruto Uchiha…I mean, no, I’m Naruto Uzumaki and you’re Naruto Uchiha…no…you’re an Uchiha, not a Naruto, that would be an amazing coincidence if you were a Naruto because I’ve never met anyone with the same name as me before…but, yeah, um…are you an Uchiha? You kinda look like the photos Kiba showed me…but more so. I thought like the magazine airbrushed them or something, but they must have like anti-airbrushed them, because you’re like even more WOW in real life than in any picture.’ The man made a gesture of a big explosion as he said ‘wow’.

‘Hnnnn,’ Sasuke said. He managed to stop his mouth hanging agape as he listened to the man speak. Now he knew for a definite fact the man wasn’t only a criminal, but a complete and utter idiot. But Sasuke’s heart was racing as if he was in the presence of an actual god.

‘I’m sorry about all this.’ The man spread his arms wide indicating the mess of the conservatory, then rubbed the back of his head and gave a sheepish grin, that Sasuke should have considered imbecilic, but instead he was thinking how it transformed the man from Hollywood handsome to endearingly cute. Worse than that, Sasuke didn’t do cute, wasn’t ever attracted to cute, in fact found cute repulsive, but right now his impulse was to run over and hug the man close and reassure him that he didn’t care about any of the damage to the house.

‘Well, I’m not sorry _sorry_ , because, yaknow, your family are involved in some really bad unethical stuff, and I want to be part of the protest, but Shikamaru is really bright and never gets these things wrong, and he said the house was empty, and it’d like be some sort of fuck you to the Uchihas when they come back and see it’s all wrecked. I wouldn’t want you to feel scared, or anything.’

Something pinged in Sasuke at the thought of this man mistaking him for someone as cowardly as the companions he was obviously used to associating with. He began to stride forward to assert himself as master of the house, but the blonde was faster, leaping to Sasuke and grabbing his arms. Sasuke realised that this was the time when he actually should feel scared. This man was quick, strong, openly an enemy to his family, and being obviously intellectually challenged would make him more dangerous not less. But all he was feeling was incredibly turned on, more turned on than he’d ever been before. At the stranger’s touch, all the blood had rushed to his groin, his knees had actually gone weak, he never even knew that was a real thing that could happen, but he had a concern that if the blonde wasn’t holding him so tightly he would’ve actually lost his balance.

‘I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to be like forward…holding you…and…um…you’ve got really soft skin by the way…I just…there’s glass everywhere…and you’re not wearing much…I mean…you’re not wearing shoes…and I don’t want you to get hurt…and…thank you for not stabbing me with your sword…and…and…what’s your name?’ Big blue eyes gazed at Sasuke reflecting Sasuke’s own yearning.

Sasuke threw the priceless sword carelessly down on the floor. He fisted a hand through the blonde’s hair and pulled the other man’s lips against his. There was a moment’s pause, probably less than a second, though it felt like an eternity, where Sasuke pressed his tongue against the blonde’s mouth, but the blonde didn’t respond. Then the blonde’s lips opened and his tongue was fighting against Sasuke’s with such passion that the Uchiha let out a loud moan.

The blonde took the opportunity to repeat his question, ‘What’s your name?’

Sasuke smirked. ‘You want to know what to scream out when I make you come?’

‘Yes.’

There was such a simple honesty to the response that it was almost painful. Sasuke was used to people desiring him, but there was something else in the blonde’s expression that he’d never seen before.

He licked his lips, unsure why he was reluctant to give the man his name. Sasuke had indulged in and enjoyed anonymous sex before on many occasions, but that was far from home. This was an encounter with a man in his family’s summer house. The blonde could easily find out which Uchiha had a taste for men by checking back in with his friend and his magazines. If he was worried about being blackmailed, Sasuke needed to stop this before it went any further. But that wasn’t what concerned him at all, he was worried that if he gave this man his name, it would give this man a different sort of power over him. The thought was ridiculous.

In his firmest tones he said, ‘Sasuke. You can scream out Sasuke.’

The man grinned. ‘Nice to meet you, Sasuke.’

Not so ridiculous after all. Thousands of people had said his name, including what was probably hundreds of lovers, Sasuke didn’t bother keeping count, but no one had ever made his heart pound, or his head feel faint before.

To cover the surge of his emotions, Sasuke pulled the man in for another kiss. The first kiss had been passionate enough, but this one was different as if Sasuke had somehow conveyed everything that made a perfect kiss to the blonde and he’d immediately adapted to it. He moved his hands from Sasuke’s arms to the centre of his back with just the right pressure to both display his strength and indicate that he wasn’t the sort who would even think of using it to overpower the Uchiha. He explored with his tongue slowly caressing Sasuke’s teeth as if he wanted to know every inch of him, but interspersing it with deep lustful thrusts that sent electric pulses through Sasuke’s body.

‘Naruto,’ Sasuke moaned. He was gratified to feel a tremor go through the body pressed against him, revealing that he wasn’t the only one made insensible by the sound of their name. But then something struck him and he temporarily pulled away. ‘You gave me your real name?’

The blue eyed man nodded. ‘Naruto Uchimaki…Uzumaki.’

Sasuke almost laughed with delight at the blonde nearly making the same mistake again of calling himself Naruto Uchiha. But instead he shook his head. What sort of cosmic joke was it, that this person who was driving him wild with lust, with something completely new and beyond lust, was a complete idiot?

 ‘So when I call the police and report the break in and damage I can tell them exactly who to arrest? Are you one of those homeless freaks who tries to get locked up in jail for an easy life?’

Anger flashed across the blonde’s face. And Sasuke almost physically cringed at his own excitement and immediate desire to see every possible emotion on Naruto’s face and know the other man’s visage even more intimately than his own.

‘Being homeless does not make you a freak! Everyone is not so lucky to be born to trillionaire parents and have their perfect life mapped out for them before they’ve soiled their first diaper.’

‘You admit you are homeless then?’ Sasuke showed no reaction to Naruto’s outburst.

‘Not that it’s any of your beeswax but I share a house with my friends. Just one house, we haven’t got empty homes to spare like you, but it does for normal people.’

‘Not that it’s any of my _what_?’ Sasuke raised his eyebrows.

‘Beeswax…that’s what people say, isn’t it?’

‘It is. It’s just not an expression I’d expect you to use.’ Sasuke smiled kindly at the sudden doubt on the other man’s face. Without thinking about what he was doing, he caressed the back of his hand over the blonde’s cheek. As soon as he did it he realised it was the most tender touch he’d ever given a lover. He blushed and dropped his hand back to his side. ‘Why did you tell me your name?’

‘Isn’t that what people do when they meet?’

‘It is. But it is unusual for people to meet on cordial terms when they've broken into a stranger's houses. Do you want to give me your address too, to save the police the trouble of searching their database?’ Sasuke gazed at Naruto’s lips.

Naruto shrugged. ‘As soon as you say my name, the police will know who I am.’ He moved forward closing the gap between their two bodies.

‘I think you should write down all your details for me before you leave, our law enforcement are busy people we should be good citizens and endeavour to save them as much time as possible.’

‘Most people wouldn’t accuse me of being a good citizen and.’ He ran his thumb over Sasuke’s throat down his chest stopping only at his belly button. ‘I don’t intend to leave any time soon.’

Sasuke’s stomach swirled as if Naruto was reaching inside him and caressing his very soul. All these feelings were new so in a perverse kind of way it made sense to do things he’d never done before, in truth had never wanted to do before. He brushed Naruto’s hand out of the way to free him to jump up onto the blonde. He wrapped his legs around the other man’s waist and his arms around his neck.

‘Perhaps you should carry me out of the room, it may be advisable because of the’

‘Glass,’ they said together.

Sasuke was tall, his slender looking build was all long toned muscles, but Naruto carried him as if he was a waif. Covering him in passionate kisses, and stopping to grind him against the wall before leaving the vandalised room.

Sasuke paid no attention to where Naruto was taking him, he submitted to the blonde’s lust and added to it with his own, working at getting the man naked without loosening the grip of his legs around the blonde’s waist.

He’d managed to get him topless and was enjoying running his hands over the man’s firm torso, when Naruto propped him up on a side and chuckled.

‘Why do you rich people have to make your houses so fuck off big? Where the hell is your bedroom?’

Sasuke snapped out of his lust filled daze for a moment to look around. ‘Well, not here, idiot, this is a kitchen.’ He pointed mockingly to the surface he’d been placed on. ‘And for your information this isn’t a bed either, it’s a kitchen counter.’

‘Are you always such a bastard?’

‘No. I’m a lot worse normally. I’m being particularly nice to you today, so appreciate it.’ Sasuke circled his thumbs over Naruto’s nipples which were enticingly pink against his tan flesh.

Naruto made a small whining sound which made Sasuke want to spend all day and night working this man over just so he could hear him moan like that.

‘The bedroom is upstairs as any person with a working brain could work out.’ Sasuke was in no hurry to move though, he took advantage of Naruto standing still, to lean back on the counter and use his feet to pull Naruto’s jogging pants and boxers down. His mind paused for a nanosecond asking him what the hell he was doing getting it on with a man who wore jogging pants outside of the house, but he immediately answered himself that if he was accepting an idiot, eco warrior, house breaker as his lover, then he could hardly expect him to be dressed in a tux.

He almost whined himself at the sight of the other man’s thick erection springing out from a triangle of yellow curls.

‘Hey, not fair,’ Naruto protested. ‘We’re equal partners, right?’

Sasuke forced himself to look away from the man’s beautiful cock and instead gazed into his beautiful eyes. He tried to work out through the mists of his desire what the other man was talking about. What wasn’t fair? What was this ‘equal partners’ thing? There was no one equal to Sasuke in any area of his life. Certain members of his family were above him in both business and respect, everyone else was below him. How could a random fling he’d hooked up with in the process of vandalising his house, have any notion other than Sasuke being totally in charge? Obviously it had been a mistake allowing Naruto to carry him, but it was one that Sasuke had a difficult time regretting.

Naruto pulled his shoes and socks off and kicked his pants and boxers out of the way. The blonde wasn’t being especially elegant, but the rough way he undressed, turned on Sasuke more than the most elaborate striptease could. But when you were packing the kind of body the other man was you could do almost anything and still be incredibly hot. Sasuke knew from experience; he was well aware that there were occasions when he got away with being a lazy and inconsiderate lover while still leaving his partner more than satisfied just because of his looks. Gazing into the blonde’s eyes he was certain Naruto was a better man than him though, who would always give one hundred percent to his partner.

Sasuke’s mind floated away from the ways Naruto’s body could please him and remembered what the blonde had said a moment ago.

‘What makes you believe we’re equal partners?’ He raised an eyebrow.

‘Well, we’re not yet, but we’re going to be.’ Naruto grinned. ‘If I’m naked, you’re naked too.’

The blonde put his hand on Sasuke’s waistband and pulled his lounge pants down with such unexpected vigour that Sasuke lost his balance and fell onto Naruto, who half supported him and half fell onto the floor laughing. Sasuke found himself also laughing even as he was taking advantage of their position to lustily push Naruto back onto the floor. This man was having a strange effect on him, he never laughed while having sex. In fact he hardly ever laughed at all.

‘You are not my type,’ Sasuke smirked. ‘Not my type at all.’

‘Are you sure about that?’ Naruto grinned as he reached down and expertly took both his own and Sasuke’s erections in his hand and started wanking.

Sasuke’s eyes rolled back in his head, he had meant to take control of this man, instead he was fighting off an orgasm. ‘Stop,’ he gasped.

Naruto obeyed straight away, his cheeks flushing shyly. ‘I’m sorry…I thought that that might be something you liked…I’ll get dressed and, yaknow, go…and…’

‘Idiot,’ Sasuke hissed between his teeth. ‘ _Obviously_ that was something I liked. I need you to stop so I don’t come too soon. I want to come hard in your ass, not over your hand.’

Naruto blush deepened. ‘Yeah…um…right…obviously…you’re going to come in…my ass.’

‘Stay here.’ Sasuke got up and started searching through the cupboards. Mostly they’d been cleared out but he found a bottle of olive oil at the back of one and returned to the blonde with it.

Naruto was casually stroking his hand over his cock, he was blatantly and confidently a sexual being. But his cheeks still held a red tinge, and combined with his big blue eyes and blonde hair it also gave him a strangely sweet, innocent look. Like ‘cute’, ‘sweet’ and ‘innocent’ were things that held no appeal for Sasuke, but then he’d never met a man like Naruto before. He seemed able to embody so many different things in the same moment. But there was nothing contrived about him and that made him the opposite of the image conscious people Sasuke normally chose.

 ‘Spread your legs,’ Sasuke commanded. He wasn’t sure how the blonde would react, and was more pleased when Naruto obeyed than he showed on his composed face.

Sasuke knelt between Naruto’s thighs and began to massage the man’s muscular legs, working closer with every stroke towards his centre. Then he silently raised the blonde’s ankles onto his shoulders, hoping from his physique that he would prove to be flexible, which he was. Sasuke lifted Naruto’s hips and rested the other man’s firm buttocks on his knees. He poured oil on his fingers and begun to rub the man’s puckered entrance.

Naruto breathed heavily. ‘So we’re really doing this, huh?’

Sasuke pushed the tip of his finger tip through the man’s ring. ‘Do you want me to fuck you, Naruto?’

‘Hell, yes!’ Naruto panted.

‘Then we’re really doing this.’

Sasuke sped up his prep, not wanting to hurt the blonde but desperate to be inside him with more than his fingers. Naruto gasped and arched his back under his touch, he wanted to see what reaction he could get with his cock. But the other man was incredibly tight, and Sasuke wasn’t exactly small, so he knew he could only rush it so far.

‘Just…shouldn’t we…you know…know…more about each other…before…this?’ Naruto’s chest rose and fell rapidly as he tried to speak between his moans of pleasure.

Sasuke was used to people enjoying his touch, but Naruto seemed more sensitive than anyone else he’d ever been with. If Sasuke hadn’t been so desperate to be inside and possessing that amazing body he could have spent a long time just teasing the blonde. Maybe he could explore how far Naruto could be strung out for at a later date.

Sasuke licked his lips. He’d been aware on some level, from the first moment he saw him, that he wanted Naruto to be more than one time, but it was still a remote idea for him to fully acknowledge to himself. Sasuke had the equivalent of a black book, people who were good at fucking and knew what ‘no strings attached’ really meant, but he didn’t do dating, and anyone who didn’t impress him was immediately forgotten. Somehow he sensed though, that even if Naruto was the most disappointing lay of his life, he would want to see this intriguing blonde again.

‘You’ve told me your name is Naruto Uchiha,’ Sasuke smirked. ‘My name is Sasuke Uzumaki. What more do you want to know?’

Naruto sat up and with one hand held Sasuke’s wrist still where the Uchiha was finger fucking him, and with the other squeezed Sasuke’s shoulder. ‘I kinda want to know that you’re a good guy and aren’t involved in any of the crap your family do. Like that maybe you argue with them about funding drilling for oil in the area where the rarest species of dolphin live…’

‘Dolphins have the whole sea to swim around and make their home, don’t they?’

‘Or you get really angry about the rainforest being cleared to make cheap grazing space for cattle…’

‘Cows are an animal too. Why do you privilege one species over another in terms of habitat?’

‘And you hate how your family increase their already enormous profits by paying their workers so badly…’

‘All employees across the globe are paid a wage that matches market averages.’

‘Oh.’ Naruto glanced down his own erection as if it was nothing to do with him. ‘Oh.’

Sasuke’s heart thumped with nerves rather than excitement. He’d never encountered the prospect of a lover walking away from him before. He’d never encountered a lover that he cared about seeing again before.

He gave Naruto no more time to think, pushing into him with a passionate kiss that pressed him back on to the floor. The blonde let go of Sasuke’s wrist and Sasuke immediately resumed finger fucking his lover, but at an increased speed. Naruto writhed under him.

‘I’m _not_ a good guy,’ Sasuke whispered in his ear. ‘Do you still want me to fuck you?’

Naruto nodded frantically.

Sasuke wasn’t going to risk asking another time. He positioned himself at Naruto’s entrance and thrust into the muscular man. The blonde took no time to adjust, immediately rocking his hips to take more of Sasuke’s cock. Sasuke leaned over Naruto and didn’t even try to hold back any longer. He plunged into Naruto and the blonde matched his rhythm perfectly. They kissed in a way that somehow seemed even more intimate than pushing the full length of his prick into this willing man.

‘Please come in me,’ Naruto breathed. ‘I want to be filled with you.’

The simple words were enough to push Sasuke over the edge. The orgasm tremored through him and lasted longer than any he’d experienced before.

This was supposed to be the time when he made for the bathroom and told his lover to collect their clothes. Instead he collapsed against the blonde’s chest and allowed Naruto to cuddle and caress him.

Even as the intensity of the pleasure passed, Sasuke was left with a glow and he realised that he’d never been so happy in his life. But when he raised his head to look at his lover, his breath caught painfully in his throat. Those gorgeous blue eyes were crying.

He wiped Naruto’s tears away with his thumb and the blonde gave a sheepish embarrassed grin.

‘Did I hurt you?’ Sasuke asked with anxious concern.

Naruto shook his head. ‘Fuck, that was amazing…better than I ever imagined it could be. I just, I guess, I thought I had principles…and it turns out I’m shallow. A gorgeous guy, the most gorgeous guy, not that that makes it any better, wants me, and I just ignore the fact that he…’

Sasuke stopped Naruto saying any more with a succession of gentle kisses. ‘I don’t think you’re shallow. I think you’re the most interesting person I’ve ever met. You’re going to be my boyfriend, Naruto.’ Sasuke wasn’t used to comforting people, which is perhaps why those words had somehow slipped out. But there was something undeniably alluring about imagining this man as only belonging to him. His kisses became more urgent and hungry despite how recently and completely satisfied he was. He put his tongue deep into the blonde’s mouth, but still yearned for more. He wanted to possess everything that this man was, not just the surface parts he could touch.

‘I want to hear all your thoughts, you must explain all your principles to me, I want to know everything that is important to you.’ He smiled. ‘And maybe you can convince me about the importance of rare dolphins, the rainforest, and workers’ rights.’

‘I can! I know I can.’

The blonde’s face brightened so much, that Sasuke didn’t have the heart to complete what he was going to say and suggest that maybe Sasuke could convince Naruto how nice it was to have enough money to know that you and the people you love would always be safe, and that you could buy whatever you wanted without ever having a moment’s of worry, including clothes that fit. Sasuke ran his hands up and down the man’s torso thinking how gorgeous he would look in a specially tailored suit.

‘We can talk later right though? There’s no rush for us to share all our thoughts immediately as we’re going to have lots of time?’ Naruto said eagerly. ‘Now that we’re official boyfriends and everything?’

Sasuke looked up from where he’d been admiring Naruto’s muscled body and saw the beaming lively face of his lover… _his boyfriend_? He had meant, as far as he’d consciously meant anything, that they would possibly become boyfriends at some unspecified future time, after much more fucking and perhaps a few dates, he hadn’t intended to start a relationship right at this moment. But his heart leapt in a manner he wasn’t accustomed to at how easily the other man had accepted the idea of them together.

Naruto was obviously experienced and would be someone in high demand, there was no point delaying it and possibly losing the first person he’d ever made this offer to. A moment of panic gripped his chest though, what did Naruto want to talk later about? Did being in a relationship mean that the other man would expect to trudge through their respective pasts and share details of all their previous lovers? Although all these feelings were new to him, Sasuke instinctively knew that he would not be able to calmly and sympathetically listen to Naruto revealing who taught him to kiss like that, or who was the first person who’d experienced the incredible tightness of being inside him.

‘We can talk at any time,’ Sasuke said nonchalantly. ‘But now that we’re together we should focus on us and our future, that’s all that matters. I don’t care what you’ve done in your past, I care about what we’re going to do together as a couple, that’s all that will ever be important to me.’

Naruto smile somehow became even wider than Sasuke’d yet seen. ‘When you were inside me I felt like we were made for each other, our bodies fitted so perfectly and I was ecstatically happy to have been so lucky to find you. Then when, yaknow, I guess the high or whatever passed, I thought that it’s already clear that we’re totally opposite people and it was just a sex thing. Now I’m ecstatically happy again…more happy…I can hardly believe any of this has happened…you feel this same connection that I do…we’ve only just met and you’re telling me you’re serious about me…and I feel like…I don’t have the words to describe what I feel like. But I don’t want to waste time trying to think of words, ‘cause it’s your turn to be fucked.’

With the swiftness and strength that Sasuke had already seen in the man, the Uchiha was flipped onto his front and Naruto was kneeling behind him.

Past relationships looked like they could be avoided, but Sasuke obviously did need to do some talking and set down the rules for his new ‘boyfriend’ straight away. An important one being that Sasuke had experimented with bottoming just enough times to know it was something that he _never_ did. Then the heat of Naruto’s tongue was flicking between his buttocks and Sasuke moaned with pleasure and the strange thrill of knowing that with this man all his old rules and certainties were meaningless.

 

***

‘Oi! Bastard! Have you listened to anything I’ve been saying?’

Sasuke glanced sideways at the man he was giving a lift to. How could Naruto be so different and still exactly the same, as on that first day when they met? 

‘I was thinking about our first time together,’ Sasuke said quietly. ‘You were so experienced, so natural, I’m finding it difficult to believe you were a virgin.’

‘I don’t know if that’s a compliment or an insult.’

‘Neither. Just a fact.’

Naruto shrugged. ‘Whatever. If you’re paying attention to me again the only thing that matters now is you’re coming up to my turning to take me home.’

Sasuke followed his husband’s directions, although it was painful hearing Naruto refer to somewhere Sasuke had never been as ‘home’. He pulled up outside a building which looked like it was on the brink of collapsing.

Sasuke kept his composure but he was seriously considering whether he could put his foot on the gas and take Naruto to his real home without the blonde having a fit.

‘This is where I get out, so I guess this is bye then. Thanks for the lift, and fuck you for having a temper tantrum and trashing my bike and making me feel like a freak for being a virgin.’ Naruto leapt out of the car like it was on fire and slammed the door.

Sasuke counted to ten as he waited for the man to remember he had left the remains of his bike behind. On cue Naruto turned back with his sheepish grin and Sasuke ignored all concerns for his own safety in this neighbourhood and got out of the car.

He helped Naruto unload in silence, giving Naruto the messiest things to carry and taking the twisted frame himself. The blonde shouted at some kids that were hanging around to keep an eye on Sasuke’s car and without an official invite being given, Sasuke followed Naruto through a grafittied hallway that smelt of urine, and up several flights of stairs as, of course, the elevator was permanently broken.

Sasuke managed to suppress an intake of breath when he walked into Naruto’s living space and was directed to leave the remains of the bike on an already crowded table. Naruto hadn’t exactly lived in a palace when they’d met, the small room that had fitted a bed and a wardrobe in and nothing else, but it was at least in a nice house. And Naruto being a sociable man had spent most of his time in the living areas with his housemates anyway.

This place was perhaps twice the size of that room but encompassed bedroom, kitchen and living room. With a door hanging open showing a tiny bathroom. There was stuff thrown everywhere, Sasuke couldn’t move without stepping on something.

‘Sorry about the mess, Kiba, Hinata and Shikamaru are between lodgings and are crashing over at the moment so things are a bit chaotic.’

‘And Akamaru too I imagine from the stink of dog, or is that just Kiba's natural scent?’ Sasuke’s voice was indifferent, but his heart hurt. How bad had he been that his husband chose to live in such cramped conditions rather than in their spacious home?

‘Yeah.’ Naruto chuckled. ‘Maybe it’s for the best you haven’t given Kurama back yet, he’d be so grumpy with a dog in his space, wouldn’t he?’

Sasuke looked around uselessly for somewhere to sit. Of the two chairs one was piled high with clothes and the other with leaflets. He settled for taking a step closer to his husband and gazing intently into those big blue eyes.

‘Seriously, what are you doing with the money I’m putting in your bank account? You should be able to afford somewhere that can fit you and your friends in much more comfortably.’

‘You must’ve seen the bank’d been taken over, or merged, or however you business people call it, so they’re not committed to sustainable and ethical investments anymore? I haven’t touched my account for ages.’

‘If you don’t like their practices then take all your money out and use it to get somewhere decent to live.’

‘This is decent, Sasuke,’ Naruto said between gritted teeth. ‘Some of us have different priorities and don’t focus all our energy on keeping up with the latest decoration fads.’

Sasuke pinched his fingers across the bridge of his nose. Too much had been said today for him to get into an argument that he was clearly going to lose to Naruto’s stubbornness. He decided all he could do for now was change the subject. Although not to one much better.

‘How much do I owe you for the bike?’

‘Nothing. It’s fine. I’ll borrow Kiba’s until I come across one going spare.’

‘ _Please_. I lost my temper because I thought you were lying to me and I acted like a petulant child. At least let me repair that damage.’

‘I don’t want your money.’

‘You _do_ want my money, or Kiba wants my money, or an almost extinct newt in a swamp that’s about to be cleared away and developed into something useful wants my money! This is what this whole counselling thing is about, isn’t it? I’ve no idea why Itachi wants us to go through with it, it’s becoming clear that all we were ever about was the sex. And even that was based on us not understanding each other. But perhaps that’s what he wanted me to realise.’

Naruto audibly swallowed and turned his face away from Sasuke. He blinked several times before looking back at his husband but had not quite succeeded in containing his tears. Automatically, Sasuke reached out and brushed them away with his thumb.

‘I don’t mean to hurt you, any more than I realise now you intended to hurt me by revealing things I consider private to Dr Sanin. I’m just tired of hoping and waiting for you to come back when the reality might be that there is no real relationship for you to come back to, and there never was.’

‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was a virgin. I’m _really_ sorry, Sasuke. It just came out with Jiraiya because I was trying my best to be open and say everything because I thought that’s what I needed to do for him to help us. I didn’t ever realise it’d be an important thing to you, that you’d think I’ve been dishonest all this time.’

Sasuke put his hands on Naruto’s waist. He could feel the definition of the blonde’s muscles beneath the thin cheap fabric and for a moment it truly seemed like the best thing to do in the world would be to just rip the other man’s clothes off and comfort each other in the mess of this room by doing the one and only thing that always made both of them happy.

But Sasuke resisted the urge and gazed at his husband with serious eyes. ‘I thought I was angry with you, but really I am angry at myself. I should never have asked you to marry me.’

Naruto whined in a way that was so similar to one of the sounds he made when aroused that it emphasised the pain and hollowness of their current situation.

‘I had no right to when it takes you leaving me and a session with a perverted counsellor for me to learn such a basic fact about you. It’s not just the virgin thing. It was the story about ramen too, all the arguments I’ve had with you trying to make you eat healthily, and you’ve never once shared the reason ramen is your comfort food. I’d never even heard you mention the name Iruka before, but today I learn that he is your first friend and your father figure. You’ve never even told me you got bullied, you’re so confident and popular, I’d never have even thought that about you. There are so many holes in my knowledge of you, and the worse thing is I thought I knew you perfectly.’

Naruto covered his face. ‘I’m sorry. If you want to know all those things, I’ll tell you all those things. I just didn’t want to really think about the past once I was happy with you, and I didn’t think you’d be interested or care about it.’

Sasuke gently pulled Naruto’s hands away from his face and squeezed them within his own. ‘That’s it, don’t you see, baby? You were never comfortable enough or even really happy enough to share these important stories of your childhood with me. I’m too cold and unemotional for you. I don’t have, and never will have, your warmth. It’s not you, it’s me.’

Naruto and Sasuke shared a wry smile at the cliched line.

‘Are you going to tell me we can still be friends next?’ Naruto grinned.

Sasuke’s heart lightened, maybe they could get through this in a mature way without too much pain after all. ‘Yes. I should. You’re my only real friend, idiot, that can never change.’

Naruto visibly struggled to keep the grin on his face, but he failed. He dropped to his knees pulling his hands away from Sasuke and wept. His grief was raw and unconstrained, his whole body trembling as tears fell from his eyes.

‘Naruto.’ Sasuke touched his husband’s shoulder and the other man flinched away as if he’d been burnt.

Sasuke’s own sorrow and regrets were choking him. But he didn’t know if he would fall down and weep next to Naruto or start screaming out with the anger that had made him destroy Naruto’s bike. He could hear the part of him that struggled to deal with intense emotions, the spoilt kid in him, already yelling that Naruto had no right to be the one crying like the world had ended when it was the stupid blonde that had caused all this by walking out in the first place.

It was one of the most difficult things he’d done in his life, but he turned and walked away from his sobbing husband, leaving him alone in the disgusting mess of the room. He left the flat, closing the door not just on the terrible wails of Naruto’s sorrow but what felt like his whole marriage, and the one and only chance he’d ever be given at true love.


	4. The Fourth Hour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for continuing to read. I hope you like the continuation of this story and I'll aim to put the next chapter up as soon as possible though my writing time is a bit sporadic at the moment.

Even though he was alone Naruto tried not to fidget as he stood in front of the massive desk. He glanced around the room again as if the situation would have magically changed, but there was still only one chair and that was positioned behind the imposing desk. On another day, Naruto would have brazenly gone and sat on it, not that his legs hurt, he was physically capable of standing here all day if necessary, but he hated the awkwardness of just being left here not knowing what he was doing and whether anyone else would ever turn up. At least sitting down he’d look like he belonged here, rather than feeling like some forgotten schoolboy pathetically waiting punishment.

Yes, on another day he would be lounging in the big leather chair, spinning round in circles and cockily waiting for its rightful owner to turn up. But this wasn’t another day. This was him arriving twenty minutes early for their fourth counselling session. Despite Sasuke  making it clear it was over between them. He couldn’t have made it much clearer, could he? Telling Naruto he wished that they’d never got married, that it was only ever a sex thing between them, and then walking away leaving Naruto alone when the blonde was literally on the floor in tears? Maybe the only extra thing he could have done was stick a sign on Naruto’s head flashing out ‘Rejected’ or ‘Unwanted’ or the all-time classic ‘Loser’ in neon letters.

Certain it was over, he’d been surprised when a letter had arrived from Itachi detailing another counselling appointment. Hinata who’d been the one who came home first and found him curled up and weeping after the last time he’d seen Sasuke, had gently advised him to reply to Itachi that he’d no longer be doing anything the Uchihas asked him to. She had almost convinced him, but Kiba was louder, and Shikamaru’s logic was hard to argue against. Also if Naruto was being entirely honest with himself, he really wanted to see Sasuke again. It made his chest constrict thinking that the last memory Sasuke would have of him, was him broken and crying. Their marriage deserved better than that, didn’t it? And in truth, he still hoped something positive could come out of the counselling.

However, it was difficult to remain optimistic after being left alone in this room for so long. He’d always preferred doing to thinking, but all there was to do right now was think. His thoughts were completely random, well, not completely random, they all centred around Sasuke in some way.

The recent: Sasuke running over his bike; the feel of Sasuke’s hands on his waist; Sasuke getting so upset about him being a virgin.

The past: the first time Sasuke had kissed him; their honeymoon where they’d just locked themselves up in the Uchiha summerhouse and spent two solid weeks sleeping, cuddling and mostly fucking; all their arguments which nine times out of ten led to sex rather than any compromise between them.

The future that wouldn’t be: him and Sasuke becoming grumpy old men together spending the long evenings laughing about the crazy days when they were young and nubile and constantly hot for each other, (although Naruto truly believed that when he celebrated his hundredth birthday him and Sasuke would still be incredibly horny wrinklies, doing filthy things with their walking sticks).

The future that would be: him and Sasuke as distant memories in each other’s minds, someone they never saw and only vaguely remembered as a strange mistake.

‘Why are you looking so sad, idiot?’

‘Arghhh!’ Naruto jumped back from the man he had been impatiently waiting to see today. ‘What are you doing creeping up on a guy like that for?’

Sasuke smirked, ‘I wasn’t being particularly quiet, your brain is just incapable of processing basic information like hearing a door open a couple of feet away from you.’

They smiled at each other for a moment as if everything was normal between them, then in the same instance they both looked away.

There was what felt like a long pause before they both started speaking over each other.

‘I was almost certain you wouldn’t be here,’ Sasuke said quietly.

‘I…I didn’t think you’d come,’ Naruto burst out loudly.

‘But I hoped you would,’ Sasuke looked tentatively at his husband.

‘I kinda, yaknow, hoped Itachi’d twist your arm and make you come or whatever.’ Naruto couldn’t stop himself rubbing the back of his head, blushing, or grinning like a maniac.

‘I needed to see you,’ they said at the same time.

There was silence again with Sasuke staring out of the window at the blue sky and Naruto looking everywhere around the room except at the dark eyed man.

Eventually the blonde mumbled, ‘You coulda, yaknow, come and seen me, you know where I’m at.’

‘Hnnnn. In a tiny room which you’re choosing to share with three other people and a dog. Whereas I am in a spacious house, our home, which we chose together, where we’d be able to talk in privacy and comfort. Why didn’t _you_ come to see _me_?’

‘You left me crying on the floor, bastard! And you still expect me to be the one to come crawling over to beg for a bit of your attention? Does it turn you on to have me plead for you to fit five minutes with me into your schedule between your hours and hours of never-ending meetings? You get off on the power, don’t you, of making me talk to your secretary because you’re too busy to take my call? Keeps me in my place to know that arranging our anniversary celebration is way down on the list of importance compared with the desperately vital need for you have to make that extra million to add to the billions already in your bank account.’ Naruto breathed heavily.

Against all the odds his husband had turned up to this counselling session, had told him he wanted to see him (which was a miraculous admission from Sasuke), and somehow they were already bickering. 

Naruto didn’t think he was the type of person who held grudges, but here he was bringing up his hurt from more than a year ago when he’d wanted to do something special for the anniversary of when they first met and hadn’t been able to get hold of Sasuke who was involved in the tail end of some negotiation-government-lobbying-thing. When he finally came home, Sasuke had met Naruto’s anger with a whole searing rage of his own. Shouting at the blonde for trying to get hold of him when he should have known how hard and long Sasuke had worked for this, how Sasuke listened to all Naruto’s environmental rants, but Naruto gave no courtesy or respect to what Sasuke dedicated himself to. Naruto had yelled back that of course he didn’t want to hear about Sasuke’s ‘work’, that if he thought about how much effort Sasuke put into expanding the Uchiha’s world-destroying business it made him feel physically sick.

Naruto couldn’t remember what was said after that, but his groin ached with the very clear memory of the two of them somehow ending up in the garden, half naked under the moonlit sky, greedily sucking each other off.

The lustful look in his husband’s eyes, told him that despite the spikiness of Naruto’s words, Sasuke’s thoughts had taken him to a similar place.

It was difficult to gaze into those dark eyes, but it was impossible for him to look away. Naruto’s heart beat irregularly as he tried to form the right words to express what he wanted to say. He’d thought about it constantly since receiving the details from Itachi, what he’d say to Sasuke if Sasuke did turn up to the counselling session, but now his mouth was dry and his mind almost empty. Planning what to say to his husband had been difficult enough, but being capable of speaking when he was captured in the power of Sasuke’s sensual aura was a challenge he should have known he could never prepare for.

‘Hey guys.’

‘Waaaah!’ Naruto jumped at the intrusion, his embarrassment only slightly mitigated at being caught unawares again, by seeing that Sasuke’s shoulders twitched minutely, which was the Uchiha’s equivalent of leaping out of the window in surprise.

The woman who had initially greeted him and shown him to this room smiled widely. ‘Wow, you sure are on edge. Sorry for making you jump. There’s nothing to be nervous about, I know some people are shy about going to relationship counselling, but you should be proud of yourself for reaching out and asking for help before it’s too late. It’s amazing how much work people will put into jobs they hate, but they don’t make any effort for the person they love.’

Naruto chuckled gratefully at the pretty woman’s attempt to relax him. ‘Thank you, Rin, it’s kind of you to say so. Me and Sasuke definitely need industrial level help to make things right between us.’

Sasuke’s lips thinned into a narrow line. ‘I’m here to speak to a professional, not listen to the idle opinions of a receptionist.’

Naruto thumped Sasuke on the arm and glared at his husband, ‘Sorry about the bastard I for some unknown reason agreed to marry. He’s not yet learned how to act around nice people.’

Rin remained smiling. ‘Don’t worry, like I said it can be tense coming here and I’m used to not seeing people at their best. If it makes you feel any better, Mr Uchiha, I am a doctor just of the body not the mind. I’m just helping out today on my day off as there’s been a bad strain of flu going around and we’re a bit short staffed. A favour to my hubby, which I’ll make sure he pays back later.’ She winked playfully. ‘Anyway, talking about Kakashi, he’s running late, so he’s asked me to get you started in one of the puzzle rooms.’

No one else would have noticed any change in Sasuke’s countenance, but Naruto was acutely aware of the disdain coming off in waves from the man standing next to him. A therapist who was late and used something called ‘puzzle rooms’ would definitely be at the bottom of Sasuke’s list of people he wanted to meet.

Naruto chatted away cheerfully to Rin in order to cover his husband’s stubborn silence. Also although he knew Sasuke was very capable of leaving without feeling the need to say a word, there was a faint hope that if he gave Sasuke no space to talk the Uchiha wouldn’t express his displeasure and storm out before the session had even begun.

Naruto only breathed normally once Rin had deposited both him and Sasuke in a strange room. Sasuke had remained with him, even though he actively hated any team building activities. That had to be a positive sign. The busy man actually took the time to contact any poor company who sent out leaflets hoping to garner trade from the Uchiha company, explaining in no uncertain terms exactly why he would not be paying for any of his employees to spend a day building a raft (or whatever the latest fad was) on the dubious premise it would improve their relationships and productivity.

Naruto tried grinning at his husband to let him know how happy he was that the other man had stayed, but Sasuke stared straight ahead. At least here, if you wanted to avoid looking at someone, there were definitely better distractions than just staring at the ceiling or out of the window. It was full of clutter and things that didn’t belong together, like an empty iron bird cage with a plastic turkey inside it, and a delicate fabric fan leaning against a pair of hiking boots.

‘Look, Sas, the writings on the wall for us!’ Naruto pointed to some large handwriting styled lettering in front of them.

Sasuke gave no reaction.

Naruto frowned. ‘That’s a thing people say, isn’t it? When something’s over? That the writings on the wall?’

‘It is. Perhaps I didn’t find your attempt at humour very amusing.’ Sasuke’s voice was pure indifference, yet he gave a small smile and brushed his hand over Naruto’s cheek without looking at the blonde.

Naruto’s frown deepened. How could he reconnect with the one person he’d been most connected with in his whole life when they had nothing in common and didn’t understand each other on a basic level? Why when he was trying to be nice did Sasuke got snipey, and then when he was confused and asking a question Sasuke became affectionate?

One thing that was undeniable though, was the shiver of pleasure that went through his whole being from Sasuke’s simple caress.

Unsure what else to do, Naruto read the writing out loud. ‘You hear it speak, for it has a hard tongue but it cannot breathe, for it has not a lung what is it?’ He twisted his mouth around and repeated it a few more times until Sasuke said in an exasperated tone, ‘It’s a bell, obviously, moron.’

‘Yeah, I knew that, was just seeing how long it took you to get it,’ Naruto snapped back. Then he bowed his head and said in a smaller voice. ‘Well, I might have worked it out eventually if you hadn’t given the answer away.’

‘You wouldn’t have,’ Sasuke smirked.

Naruto looked at his husband out of the side of his eyes and gave a half smile. ‘The bit about the hard tongue thing was distracting me, I kept thinking of…other stuff.’

Sasuke returned his sideways glance. ‘I may have been as well, but I was still able to solve an easy riddle.’

Naruto made a few grumbling sounds, but the reality was that he was filled with relief that Sasuke was here and talking to him. He wondered if this was a good time to mention their relationship, how things had been left between them with Sasuke explicitly saying he didn’t want to be married to Naruto, or whether he should just enjoy the seemingly relaxed mood of his husband before the inevitable storm happened. Then in the midst of all the different objects crammed into the room, two small silver bells connected by a string caught his eye. He immediately leapt forward onto them, determined to impress Sasuke who was probably searching for a traditional bell, not something like this which was the sort of thing Naruto tried to hang around Kurama’s neck to warn birds and little furry things that a monster was heading their way.

As soon as Naruto touched the bells though a sharp shock went through his body and he whipped his hand back with a yelp.

Sasuke was immediately by his side. He put an arm around his shoulders and tenderly took Naruto’s hand to check for injury.

‘You don’t always have to be such an idiot, you’ve got a good mind if you actually ever paused and took a moment to think about things. This is a puzzle room, the point is to work through the clues slowly, not run in and grab the first thing you see.’

Naruto’s body trembled and gave a small whimper.

Sasuke ran his thumb over Naruto’s fingers. ‘Is it that bad? I’ll sue this place into the ground for hurting you.’ His voice reverberated with genuine menace. ‘What the hell are they thinking? There’s no warning signs, and that bitch Rin talking to you as if you were best friends without once telling you that this place was wired up. I’ll ring my lawyers and if these fraudsters are not shut down by the end of the day…’

‘Sas.’ Naruto spoke softly but there was something in his voice that cut through Sasuke’s rant. ‘It didn’t really hurt at all. I was just surprised, that’s all. It’s…it’s you touching me that made me…um…’ He moved away from his husband and rubbed a hand through his hair. ‘I know everything you said last time, fuck knows I’ll never be able to forget it, it hurts so much, but I can’t shut myself off from…reacting to you.’

Sasuke gazed at Naruto with an unreadable expression, then he blinked and his eyes seemed softer when he reopened them. ‘Itachi didn’t have to twist my arm for me to come today. I know I had no right to go back to your…home, after the way I left you there crying, but even so I have driven past a few times on the chance that I might see you. I’ve been counting the days down to this meeting, hoping that you’d come.’

Naruto’s heart beat fast and a large part of him wanted to jump into his husband’s arms and just forget all their differences and start again.

‘With our propensity to constantly argue, I was hoping that a professional setting would provide a good neutral meeting ground for us to finalise the terms of our separation in a mature way without tears or tantrums.’ Sasuke looked with clear disdain around the room. ‘But for some mysterious reason, my brother has chosen to send us to a succession of clown outfits. It may end up we’ll have to do it in the traditional manner and leave our lawyers to mitigate on our behalves.’

Naruto’s whole chest sparked with pain more real and raw than the tiny shock he’d received on touching the bells, but he guessed Sasuke would not be comforting him this time.

‘You know I don’t have a lawyer,’ Naruto said in an attempt at a light voice. ‘So it’ll just be your dudes talking to an empty room and doing whatever they want. Hey, maybe you could use Neji, I’m pretty sure he fancies me, even as dense as I am, I’ve noticed him checking out my ass more than once, so he might give me a good deal in exchange for a date.’ The blonde chuckled, but Sasuke clearly didn’t share his mirth.

‘Neji is a specialist in corporate law, he definitely _won’t_ have anything to do with our personal affairs.’ The Uchiha said in an unusally strained tone. ‘Besides I’ve never seen him looking at you in an inappropriate way, you’re flattering yourself. He is considered very desirable and is extremely intelligent, not someone who would be attracted to you at all.’

Naruto laughed louder. ‘You’re so terrifyingly jealous hardly anyone risks checking me out when you’re around, they’re all too scared. And why wouldn’t Neji like me? You’re super smart and hotter than he is and you want me.’ Naruto lost his bluster as he realised what he’d said, he stumbled over his next words. ‘I mean…you used to want me…at least I think…you wanted me…at one time.’

Sasuke gave a small shake of his head. ‘Idiot. Why would you have doubts about that? Obviously I wanted you. How many times do you think I’ve allowed someone I’ve only just met to fuck me on the kitchen floor?’

Naruto shrugged. ‘Ten?’

Sasuke smirked and his body noticeably relaxed. ‘The question could simply be how many people do you think I’ve allowed to fuck me on the kitchen floor?’

‘I’m going to stick with ten, it seems like a good number to me.’

‘A clue for the contestant permanently stuck in last place, the answer is the same as the number of people I’ve rimmed, the number of people I’ve shared a bath with, the number of people I’ve camped under the stars with and stayed up listening to them talk all night until we watched the sunrise together.’ Sasuke moved closer to Naruto and put his hands on the blonde’s hips. ‘It’s also uncoincidentally the same answer as the number of people who I wanted in my life so much that they gave me the courage to inform my stunned and hurt parents that I was more attracted to men than women. And inspired me to do something that I never thought I would…’

‘Give money to a beggar on the street?’ Naruto interrupted with a wide smile. He was scared he’d start crying again if Sasuke kept talking. ‘Even if you did make the poor guy earn it by making him listen to a snarky lecture about how you knew he was going to waste your rare moment of generosity and spend your hard earned cash on drink and drugs.’

Sasuke refused to be distracted. ‘I asked someone to marry me. Because I longed to see my ring on their finger so everyone would know they were mine. And because I yearned for the security of knowing that we’d always be together. Although logically I should have known it was an outmoded and irrelevant ceremony, and a marriage certificate is not a guarantee that someone isn’t going to walk out on you. All it means is that the person who has destroyed your life has a right to steal your money.’ Sasuke tightened his grip on Naruto in a way that managed to be both aggressive and possessive, and sent a direct message to the blonde’s groin to bypass the brain and just fuck this man stupid.

Naruto swallowed. When he was certain he wasn’t either going to fall to the ground in tears, or go into rampant sex mode, he risked speaking. ‘I’m kinda uncertain around you as I don’t know what is going on with us. And I can’t trust myself to judge what is going on with us. I’ve thought about it tons and I still don’t get why you were upset about me being a virgin, it’s something that I wouldn’t have thought you’d be worried about…if anything it’s something I imagine you’d have teased me with, not something you’d have gotten angry about. And…I’m nervous around you…and then I get even more nervous because I know you’ve got no patience for shy, timid people who don’t know what they want…but I’m nervous because…being completely upfront here…I am so hot for you, Sasuke, it’s physically painful.’

There was an unmistakable flicker of emotion in the Uchiha’s eyes. The other man’s voice remained much steadier than Naruto’s, but he gripped the blonde even tighter and drew him closer.

‘We’re not compatible. That’s an undeniable fact. We should both accept that and we’ll be able to get through this process with our dignity intact.’

‘We’ve been so happy together though. That’s a fact too, isn’t it?’ Naruto protested, though he wasn’t entirely conscious what he was saying. More of his focus was on the fact that Sasuke had pulled him even nearer so that their hips were now touching. He wondered if Sasuke was sensitive enough to feel the stirrings of his erection through their clothes. He wondered if he was feeling a mirror reaction in his husband, or if it was only his brain so dizzy with lust that it was imagining things.

‘Naruto, you know it’s true. You were the one who walked away from me. You’re arguing with me out of habit, or some false obligation to defend our relationship. Be kind to us both and accept that we’re different people who made a terrible mistake when we got married, a decision that was fuelled purely by lust.’ Sasuke took much longer than necessary pronouncing the single syllable ‘lust’.

Then Sasuke’s hands left Naruto’s hips and instead were fisting though his hair, and Sasuke was kissing him so roughly that neither of their muscular bodies had the strength to keep balanced. Naruto took most of the force of the blow, but barely noticed the bruises as he twisted around to be on top of the other man. He parted Sasuke’s thighs with undeniable desire and pushed his body hard between the Uchiha’s spread legs. He rutted against his husband with animalistic passion, clumsy and desperate. Sasuke responded in kind, losing all his natural grace and reserve as he bucked frantically. Both of them clung onto each other, refusing to break the kiss as if it was more important than anything else, including breathing.

As much as there were any thoughts in Naruto’s head, he was amazed how their two bodies clashed against each other. All his knowledge of sex basically came from Sasuke, and right from the beginning they had possessed a natural harmony, which having no other experience, he’d always assumed was normal. Even when they had their roughest, hardest couplings, there was a constant connection and synchronisation in the way that they moved together. But today they bumped and rammed together as if they had no idea what the other one was doing.

Maybe at another time, Naruto would have stopped; waiting until he was calm enough to start a slow careful seduction to regain their usual rhythm. But right now, the mismatched jarring of their bodies, only served to increase his primal urges to pin Sasuke down and completely dominate the other man.

The Uchiha seemed to be driven by the same desire. Although he didn’t equal Naruto’s pure strength, Sasuke was trained in various fighting techniques, the Uchiha family was frightened of kidnappers and ransom notes so ensured that from a very young age all their members were taught to defend themselves. Fortunately Sasuke had never been seriously attacked, but his skills had another use, they proved incredibly valuable in subduing his muscular lover.

Naruto wasn’t even sure what Sasuke had done. One moment the blonde was on top, his cock as hard as it could be, ready to fuck his husband into oblivion. The next moment he was pressed face down into the floor, moaning out in blissful submission as his lover seemed to be simultaneously gripping and pushing on every part of his body.

For a while, Sasuke was content rubbing himself against Naruto’s clothed form, but then with frustrated grunts he began to tug at the blonde’s jeans.

‘Why did you choose today to wear a fucking belt?’ Sasuke hissed.

‘I was trying to look smarter for you, in case you turned up, which you did. You’re always complaining my clothes are too baggy.’ Naruto’s voice was young and apologetic; if he listened to himself he would have cringed and immediately made up for it by fighting against his husband and reasserting his control. But he was focused on where Sasuke’s hand had reached around, forcing a space between the floor and Naruto’s groin.

Normally both of them, but especially Sasuke, were quick and efficient about undressing, but Sasuke fumbled with the buckle as if he’d never encountered one before. Then his fingers brushed against the bulge in Naruto’s jeans. The blonde howled with as much lust and desire as if Sasuke had just given him the best hand job of his life. The belt was forgotten and Sasuke squeezed Naruto’s cock through the denim.

‘Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke,’ Naruto cried out.

‘Sasuke Uchiha I presume,’ a male voice said. ‘And I’m hoping that is your husband Naruto underneath you.’

Naruto hadn’t realised he’d shut his eyes. He opened them now and gradually remembered where he was. The room was a lot more chaotic than when they first entered it, he somehow hadn’t realised it while it was happening, but him and Sasuke in their rolling about seemed to have knocked a lot of the objects over.

Sasuke was, as ever, quicker at recovering than him. The Uchiha was already standing up and in his own unique nonchalant way, offering to pay for any damage they caused while complaining about the unprofessional set up.

‘You _almost_ passed the puzzle room part of your therapy,’ the new voice said seemingly uninterested in what Sasuke was saying.

‘Your puzzle was so simple it wasn’t worth completing,’ Sasuke said contemptuously before rattling off a whole sequence of riddles and things that needed moving which Naruto hadn’t even noticed.

‘You obviously pride yourself on your intellect, so surely you realised this room is about working and talking together, obtaining the bells is unimportant. You almost passed because there was an undeniable connection, but you’ve left your partner lying on the floor, so it has to be a fail.’

‘Hnnn. He’s capable of getting up on his own, it’s his choice to stay there.’ However, Sasuke gripped Naruto’s shoulder and hauled him up to his feet. ‘What are you doing, idiot?’ he whispered in a low voice. ‘Are you trying to embarrass me again?’

Naruto had lots of words to snap back at his estranged husband about who was the one who had started the kissing, and had been grinding him into the floor a moment ago; and that Naruto never _tried_ to embarrass Sasuke and how could he embarrass him anyway when the man didn’t care an iota what other people thought of him…those were the words he intended to say.

Instead he flopped against Sasuke, resting his head on his husband’s shoulder. ‘Sorry, babes, I’m kinda dazed from…you know what we were doing was so hot. And I haven’t eaten today and hardly anything yesterday, I’ve been so nervous about whether I’d see you today or not. Plus I couldn’t sleep because of the nerves, so I’m not at my best.’ Naruto aimed to speak as quietly as his husband, but failed.

He waited for Sasuke to push him away for calling him ‘babes’ if nothing else. However, the Uchiha put an arm around him and stroked his fingers over his shoulders in a caress.

‘You’re such a dope, how did I ever end up with you?’ He said softly. Then in a louder voice, ‘Let’s get this counselling session over with then. Or is this puzzle room the total culmination of your therapy?’

For the first time Naruto looked up at the man Sasuke was addressing. He was dressed like he’d just come back from military training or something, with his appearance made even odder by the fact he had a bandana covering his mouth and some sort of headband angled down so it completely covered one eye. His hair was silver, but his face, well, as much of it as Naruto could see, was young and wrinkle free. In fact, Naruto had the impression that the man was very attractive.

As if he could see Naruto’s assessment of him, the silver haired man winked at the blonde. ‘If you want to call me anything, I’m Kakashi by the way. Now, as Sasuke says, let’s get the rest of this counselling session over with.’ He turned and left the room without waiting to see if they’d follow him.

Sasuke gave Naruto a brief squeeze and went after Kakashi, the blonde tailed behind, his brow creased as he tried to focus his mind and work out what the physical contact from his husband meant, rather than listen to the yearnings of his body which didn’t care about long term consequences and just wanted to be writhing on the floor with his man.

They ended up back in the room with the big desk. Kakashi sat down in the one chair leaving Naruto and Sasuke standing.

‘So let’s begin at the end, why did you two split up?’ He didn’t look at them as he asked the question but took a well-thumbed paperback with a trashy romantic cover out of a drawer. He flicked it open and started reading.

Sasuke’s hands tightened into fists. Naruto stared warily at his husband, Uchihas were accustomed to a world where they had everyone’s full attention.

‘You arrive late, your _receptionist_ is over familiar and admits you’re understaffed, you leave us alone in a lawsuit-waiting-to-happen room, your office doesn’t even have enough chairs, and your counselling involves us standing here while you’re reading a book?’

‘You’re a very observant man, Sasuke,’ Kakashi said without looking up from his book.

‘My brother is a very powerful man, I don’t know how you hoodwinked him into thinking you’re a professional, but be assured he’ll be hearing in detail about this farce.’

Kakashi turned a page. ‘Yes, please tell Itachi everything. It’ll probably sound better coming from you than me about how you were dry humping your estranged husband on the floor.’ He turned another page and chuckled, whether at the text or the men in front of him was unclear. ‘Naruto, I understand you’re the one who left, I’ve really got no idea why, so please enlighten us all what caused you to walk away from this charming man.’

‘Um…it was just another argument really,’ Naruto said. He looked between Kakashi and Sasuke, Kakashi appeared completely captivated by his book, but Sasuke glared back at him. Naruto had been deliberately vague, half because his mind was still struggling with the passion Sasuke had shown, and half because after upsetting Sasuke by being honest and open with Jiraiya, he didn’t want to make the same mistake.

But there was no pleasing some people. However, much Naruto tried.

‘Just another argument? Is that what it was to you?’ Sasuke gazed combatively into Naruto’s eyes. ‘I bought you a gift, you didn’t like it, so you left me. Is that a fair summary?’

‘You bought me a fur coat, bastard!’

‘Yes, an expensive beautiful piece that I spent a long time selecting for you in the hopes that you’d be appreciative.’

‘You bought _me_ a fur coat! I’m so happy to hear that you spent so long choosing the worse thing possible to get for me. Were you intending to insult me, or do you know me so little you actually thought I’d like it?’ Everything else was forgotten and Naruto was full of all of the rage he’d felt when he’d initially unwrapped the vile thing.

‘It was ethically sourced, idiot, my people researched it. The fur companies sustain environments that would otherwise be…’

‘Don’t give me that crap! You’re so smart, knowing all the intricacies of everything, absolutely everything, to do with making more piles of money, but suddenly you’re stupid when your _people_ tell you there’s such a thing as humane fur and you just accept it? You’ve never respected my beliefs, you’ve always thought that I’d grow out of them, that they were just childlike thing of no importance. You married me thinking you’d change me, you wanted me to be exactly the same as you! Your dream would be to be married to your mirror image.’

‘In which part of your empty mind have you come up with that idea? True, I thought you’d mature out of your friends and the trouble they get you into once you took on the responsibility of being my husband but…’

‘But now you’ve realised that you made a mistake asking me to marry you as I didn’t _mature_. Fuck you, Sasuke.’

‘From what I’ve seen you do both seem very interested in fucking each other.’

Naruto and Sasuke’s heads snapped around. Whether they were arguing, grabbing at each other’s bodies, or even merely talking, today there was an intensity between them that made them oblivious to everything apart from each other.

‘I suspect that Sasuke bought you that fur coat, not because he was trying to insult your beliefs, but because he had a burning fantasy about seeing you wearing nothing but a fur coat and having sex with you dressed like that,’ Kakashi continued though he appeared to be fully occupied with his book.

Naruto’s eyes widened at seeing Sasuke’s cheeks flush, not with anger, but with embarrassment.

‘We could have…um…used a fake fur one…they’re quite…soft…I think,’ Naruto stammered.

‘Part of the thrill, I strongly suspect, is beyond the sensual pleasure of the material,’ Kakashi said. ‘Sasuke probably got excited at the idea of his animal rights husband being willing to wear a fur coat to sexually gratify him.’ Kakashi looked up from his book directly at Naruto. ‘Have you never had a fantasy about Sasuke joining you on one of your protests?’

‘That’s not really the same.’ Naruto moved his feet about nervously. He had had lots of fantasies where Sasuke chained himself to a tree to prevent it being chopped down, and Naruto had displayed how proud he was of his husband by taking advantage of his incapacitated state.

Kakashi’s one visible eye moved to look at the Uchiha. ‘Sasuke, do you think Naruto had a valid reason to leave you? How did you truly expect him to react when you presented him with a gift you must have known there was a high chance he would find distasteful?’

‘Obviously I didn’t expect him to leave me,’ Sasuke replied coldly. ‘He normally treasures everything and anything I give him, I hoped his enthusiasm for presents would outweigh any reservations he might have about the nature of the gift.’

Kakashi’s eye travelled back to Naruto. ‘Do you think you over reacted and maybe should have discussed your concerns with your husband rather than abandoning your marriage?’

‘He knew my concerns! My personality, the things I care about, haven’t changed since the day we met.’

‘Exactly,’ Sasuke stated.

‘Neither have you, so don’t act superior.’ Naruto twisted his body to face his husband and stuck his tongue out at him.

Sasuke turned his head and made his ‘hnnnn’ noise.

‘Is it fair to say that you both believe your husband is the same as when you first met then?’ Kakashi asked.

They both nodded, but continued to glare at each other.

‘And do you both accept that you yourselves have not undergone any major personality changes in the years you’ve been together?’ Kakashi said.

Again they nodded.

Kakashi put his book into his drawer. ‘Then this session is ended.’

Naruto gazed at the silver haired man with wide eyes. ‘But you haven’t given us any advice?’

‘You need to talk to each other, not me.’ Kakashi gestured with his hands for them to leave his office. ‘Relationships fail because people change and drift away from each other. You’ve both admitted you’re exactly the same people as when you initially fell in love, therefore there is no problem for me to fix.’

Naruto expected Sasuke to go off into another tirade about how unprofessional Kakashi was, but instead the Uchiha calmly left the room.

‘Well, I guess he hasn’t stormed out this time, but is that it, Kakashi? Haven’t you got any more questions, or something wise to say?’ Naruto spread his arms wide in puzzlement.

‘ _If_ you want your man, go get him.’ Kakashi replied. ‘That’s my final piece of advice.’

With a creased brow Naruto walked out of the building and found Sasuke leaning against his car waiting for him.

‘I’ll give you a lift,’ Sasuke opened the passenger door for the blonde.

‘I couldn’t borrow a bike today, but it’s fine. It’s not too far to the bus stop.’ Naruto looked suspiciously at the car.

Sasuke gazed hard at Naruto in a way that made him blush. He was more aware of what it had felt like to be grinding against each other on the floor than anything else. Without saying anything else he slipped into the passenger seat. Sasuke closed the door behind him and walked over to the driver’s side and elegantly slid in. With the two of them alone in the enclosed space, Naruto’s heart thumped. He watched Sasuke’s hands on the steering wheel and surged with lust knowing the pleasure those beautiful fingers could give him.

‘Do you want to know a secret about me?’ Naruto asked in a husky voice.

‘Hnnnn.’

‘Even though I’m obviously against cars and pollution, I’ve always got turned on watching you drive.’

Sasuke smirked. ‘If you want to reveal something hidden about yourself, you’re going to have to try again. The number of times we’ve had sex around cars, _always_ at your instigation, it’s been clear for years that you’ve got some sort of fetish.’ Sasuke shrugged. ‘If we were having this conversation in front of one of the counsellors, I may have to admit that my own obsession with buying cars and keeping them pristine might have originated in your desire.’

‘Really?’ Naruto’s face brightened, then he stared down ashamed at how happy it made him feel that Sasuke was confessing he only cared about the hulks of metal because of him.

‘It wasn’t a conscious thing, but when I think about it, before you I used to accept whichever company car I was given and never bothered buying my own. But you know how much time I spend choosing and reading about them now.’ Sasuke sighed. ‘Perhaps on some level, I hoped that there were blurred edges to your sexuality and ethics, and just as I loved indulging your car desires, you might enjoy my fur fantasy.’

Naruto sucked his lips in. ‘It kinda sounds sensible when you put it like that and I’m the selfish one for not getting it and losing my temper at you before you had a chance to explain.’ He gazed out of the window not really seeing anything. ‘Although that means you have changed since we met, doesn’t it? There’s probably tons of examples like that which we could unpick if we thought about it. So we lied to Kakashi and that means he was wrong about us being the same as when we fell in love.’

Sasuke didn’t reply.

For a while Naruto didn’t say anything else either, but then his brain began to focus on the scenery outside the car.

‘Have you forgotten where I live?’

‘Idiot,’ Sasuke hissed. ‘How could I forget where you live? It’s as if you deliberately chose the roughest, most dangerous, neighbourhood you could with the sole purpose of aggravating me.’

‘Then why are you taking such a strange weird route? It’s like you’re just circling around. If you don’t want to go into the _rough_ area of town, just drop me off and I’m fully capable of walking the rest of the way.’

‘Naruto, I’d think it’d be obvious, even to you. Especially after what happened between us in the puzzle room. But if you need me to say it, I’ll say it. I am taking the longest route I possibly can because as annoying as you are, I want you in the car with me for as long as I can hold on to you. I knew when I left you last time that our marriage was over, but that doesn’t stop me wanting to spend every last second I can with you. In fact, it makes me yearn for you even more. But if the feeling isn’t mutual then I’ll get you home as quickly as I can.’ Sasuke took a sharp left, cutting across the traffic and getting loudly beeped.

Naruto swallowed. ‘This is your eco vehicle thing you told me about last time, isn’t it? So it doesn’t hurt the environment _too_ much if we keep driving around a bit, does it?’ He risked a sideway glance at his husband. ‘The feeling is not unmutual, Sasuke.’

Nothing about Sasuke’s posture or expression changed, but as they drove aimlessly around he began after a while to speak in an unusually soft voice, talking about all the things Kurama had been up to since Naruto left. Naruto welcomed the release of being able to chuckle at the funny stories about their cat. In all the emotional turmoil of seeing each other again, he’d missed this side of his husband. For someone who was normally cold and believed talking was to convey information and nothing else, Sasuke could be a surprisingly witty raconteur, turning a simple story of Kurama facing off against a particularly vicious racoon into a tale that had Naruto holding his belly with painful laughter.

‘I miss Kurama so much,’ Naruto said when his giggles had subsided enough for him to speak again.

‘He misses you too,’ Sasuke said. ‘Equally as much. If not more. Even after all these months he walks through the house hoping to see you in one of the rooms. He listens out for the sound of your voice. And feels so lonely without having your warm body to curl up against.’

Naruto chortled. ‘You’re imagining things, Sas, Kurama’s an independent beast. It’s me that runs after him, trying to steal a cuddle when he’s sleepy or really happy and will let me pick him up.’

‘You’d be surprised how lonely even independent…beasts… can become when they’re used to having someone in their life and that someone leaves them.’ 

Naruto realised this was an ideal opportunity for him to pounce on Sasuke and tell him to return his cat, but instead other words rushed out of his mouth. ‘You said, earlier you said, I’d have to tell you something else if I wanted to reveal a secret you didn’t know, and maybe you know this too, because you know so much, but here it is anyway, out in the open, I don’t want to divorce you. I really don’t want to divorce you.’

Sasuke pulled the car over to the side of the road and gazed into his husband’s face. ‘Repeat that.’

‘I said, what you said, that thing you said earlier, yaknow, when I was telling you driving turned me on and…’

‘Not the whole thing. Just the last bit, fool.’

‘I don’t want to divorce you, Sasuke.’

The other man gave no reaction, no indication that he’d heard, and definitely no reassuring reply of: ‘I don’t want to divorce you either, Naruto.’

Naruto’s courage faltered. The pain of how their last meeting ending seared through him. But this was their whole life together, if he couldn’t be brave enough to speak to his husband than he didn’t deserve to stay married.

‘I was thinking, I’ve been thinking constantly, which you know isn’t a good thing for me!’ He forced a chuckle but Sasuke continued to stare at him with deadly serious eyes. Naruto spoke in a more hesitant voice. ‘You said that you regretted marrying me, and that it was all about the sex…but maybe that’s not a bad thing? The sex bit, not that you regret marrying me. Jiraiya said that sex is a very important part of a relationship…and what we have together…you said that, or I kinda got the impression, hopefully correctly, that it’s never been as good with anyone else as it has with me? So…maybe we could stay married and be…fuck buddies?’

‘ _Fuck buddies_?’ Sasuke’s tone was complete disdain.

Naruto hadn’t meant to use that expression, in all his mulling over this proposition, he’d never once thought of it that way. He’d wanted to focus on how beautiful they were together, how right it felt, how they could take the connection they had as lovers and use it to mend the other parts of their relationship where they argued all the time.

‘Not fuck buddies,’ Naruto said. ‘Something more…I don’t know if there’s a label for it…friends with benefits? Husbands with benefits? Husbands enjoying sex without worrying about other stuff.’

Naruto bit his lip, was he making it sound worse? He was fairly certain he was making it sound worse.

‘Does this _arrangement_ involve you moving back home?’

Naruto wanted to say yes, that as much as he loved his friends, he wanted to wake up and go to sleep in Sasuke’s company. However, he was trying to sell this as something light, and there was nothing in Sasuke’s demeanour to suggest that his husband liked hearing any of what Naruto was actually saying, let alone the things he was failing to express.

And then if he did mention moving back, they would have to have a conversation about Kiba, Hinata and Shikamaru moving with him and staying with them for a while, which was the exact opposite of what they needed right now.

‘I think just keep things casual and see where they lead…if they lead anywhere. We could just carrying on living our separate lives and meet up now and again for…’

‘Fucking.’

Naruto had been going to say ‘dates’, but he’d lost control of this conversation before he’d even started it, so all he felt capable of doing was giving a small nod of agreement.

‘I’m not going to ever have sex in that dump you live in,’ Sasuke said firmly.

Naruto’s mouth fell open. ‘Does that mean you are going to…you want to…’

‘You can come back to the house and we can do _it_ there.’

Naruto’s stomach twisted at how Sasuke pronounced ‘it’, like someone disgusted by the very idea of sex. But something else panicked him more.

‘If you’re not coming to my place, I’m not going to yours,’ he protested. It sounded exactly like his normal sort of stubbornness, so hopefully it effectively hid the aching of his soul at the prospect of returning home, without returning home. He couldn’t imagine how he’d emotionally survive being in the familiar setting but then being sent away after Sasuke had finished having sex with him. His gut twisted and he wondered what exactly he was setting up with his husband here.

‘Fine. We’ll go to a hotel then.’ Sasuke looked away from Naruto and turned his attention back to the traffic. ‘Our activities thus far today have caused me frustration rather than satisfaction, so we may as well begin immediately. These counselling sessions have been unpredictable so I have nothing planned for the rest of the day that can’t be easily cancelled. Are you available, or do you have some posters you need to desperately distribute about the cruel treatment of crustaceans?’

Naruto smiled widely. ‘Oh, you’re remembering that time we freed the lobsters from that posh restaurant you were dining in, aren’t you?’

‘I could hardly forget. That was a very important meeting.’ Sasuke started driving again.

‘I didn’t know you’d be there.’

‘Because you never listen to me.’

‘I listen to the fun things. Even you must sometimes get bored of all the business stuff.’

‘The information must have reached you subliminally, otherwise why would you plan your first ever lobster protest on the very date and at the very time when I was there with my associates?’

Naruto shrugged. ‘You know Shikamaru plans all the details, I just do what I am told.’

‘Yes, I’m well aware you obey Shikamaru blindly, but argue every little thing possible with me.’

‘Ah, I don’t think we argue all that much, especially when you consider how different we are. But, yaknow, I hope you weren’t embarrassed by me at that lobster thing, at least, no one knew it was me, what with us all being dressed up in those lobster costumes and everything.’

‘Suspicions may have been aroused when one of the warrior lobsters shouted at me that I looked hot and they couldn’t wait to see me naked later tonight.’

‘I whispered! Whispered really quietly and seductively. No one else could hear unless they had supersonic hearing. Besides you did look really hot, _and_ it didn’t stop you getting naked with me later so I know you weren’t properly cross.’

They chatted together so easily, with Sasuke remembering many of Naruto’s protests much better than he often did himself. For a while, Naruto forgot that they were only together today because of a counselling session, and that his husband was driving him to a hotel for no strings attached sex. For a while, it just felt like they were two guys together enjoying each other’s company.

***

Sasuke realised the irony of booking him and Naruto into the honeymoon suite, but he’d asked for the most expensive room available and that was it. He wanted to get the checking in over with as quickly as possible and didn’t want to waste times enquiring about different rooms.

Mostly, wherever they were, however exclusive and high class, Naruto strode through with confidence and his huge smile. He was always respectful, often more than Sasuke was, but never damped down his personality and natural exuberance in order to fit in with the expectations of the old money aristocracy. Sasuke loved him with absolute pride at those times.

But there had also always been rare occasions when Naruto had seemed hyper aware of the fact that he wasn’t born into this world and it made him a difficult mixture of shy and bad tempered. Sasuke loved him with absolute protectiveness in those moments.

As soon as the valet had taken his car, Sasuke had seen that Naruto was in one of the latter moods. Since their separation, Naruto obviously hadn’t been living even at what Sasuke would consider basic standards, and had grown unaccustomed to luxury on the scale that was part of the Uchiha’s everyday existence. Naruto’s eyes darted everywhere around the grand reception area, but lingered on the exit longest.

Sasuke wished he’d chosen some downmarket chain, but couldn’t risk swapping now in case Naruto took the opportunity of taking back his offer and saying he just wanted to go home after all. In honesty, Naruto’s offer repulsed him, Naruto was his husband, not the best entry in his little black book. His hope was…he didn’t know what his hope was. He wasn’t working with logic, but the emotional pull that made him want to keep Naruto close, even while he was fighting to force himself to accept it was over between them.

He hadn’t questioned Itachi directly about it, but the fact his eminently sensible brother had chosen a selection of inexperienced and zany counsellors, was a clear message that Itachi thought Sasuke’s marriage was a joke and he was waiting for Sasuke to come to the same conclusion. It was a surprise, perhaps even a shock, as Itachi actually seemed to like Naruto, and was the only member of the family who had congratulated Sasuke when told of their engagement. But that was a long time ago.

If only he’d known all those years back that he’d end up booking into a hotel to facilitate a quick fuck with his husband before they went their separate ways.

He signed them in under the name Mr and Mr Uchiha, but he saw a knowing look flicker across the receptionist’s almost perfectly professional face. It was a look he hadn’t seen for a long time. Sasuke glanced over his shoulder at where Naruto was hanging back behind him. He saw the other man how the receptionist must judge him; good looking, dressed in cheap off the hanger clothes, obviously uncomfortable in these surroundings, accompanying Sasuke but not relaxed around him. Naruto was the embodiment of someone who needed extra money and had fallen into escort work as a last resort.

Sharp pain shot across Sasuke’s head as he wondered whether Naruto would actually expect some sort of payment. The pain increased as he recognised that Naruto would be horror struck if Sasuke offered him money after they’d had sex. But the man was willingly giving up the divorce settlement Itachi had promised him and saying he wanted to stay married to Sasuke, so it would be up to Sasuke to try and find a way to provide for his husband which wouldn’t hurt Naruto’s pride.

It suddenly felt so difficult, too difficult, that Sasuke was more than willing to stop this stupidity before it begun. Then Naruto smiled at him. Not his normal all-encompassing sunlight smile, but a small tentative smile he’d never seen. For the first time since they’d met, Sasuke imagined he saw what his husband had been like as a child. He saw a shy orphan alone in the world, optimistically reaching out towards friendship even though he’d been rejected and hurt so many times before.

Sasuke took Naruto’s hand and led him through the vast hotel to the honeymoon suite.

 

 

‘Why’ve they got a bath at the end of the bed?’ Naruto asked. Now they were alone, he seemed to have regained some of his natural spirits and was springing around the room like a young gazelle and asking Sasuke an endless stream of questions as if Sasuke had been the one to personally design the whole hotel.

‘It’s probably supposed to be romantic.’ Sasuke answered this one although he’d ignored most of them.

‘So I can like lay comfortable across the bed and wank myself while I watch you all naked and wet and covered in bubbles?’

‘That could be one option.’

‘That could be a very fun option.’ Naruto slinked closer to Sasuke but before the Uchiha could draw him into an embrace, the blonde raced off to start checking if there was anything in the astounding amount of drawers.

Sasuke remained still as Naruto read out all the options from the menu he’d found.

‘Did you notice that there’s a marked up vegan option? My people are beginning to conquer your rich world.’

Sasuke came closer to read over the blonde’s shoulder. Inadvertently breathing in the sweet scent of the other man’s body.

‘Yes, you’re certainly conquering the world with one vegan option out of all those selections. The gluten free gang and mob of nut allergy sufferers are doing even better though, they’ve got eight meals to choose from.’

‘You’ve got to start somewhere,’ Naruto said.

‘I don’t disagree.’ He put his hands underneath Naruto’s top and felt the warmth of his husband’s skin and the definition of his stomach muscles.

‘Maybe…um…maybe we could order room service, yaknow, encourage them by showing our support for the vegan choice.’

‘I think you need to earn it before I start buying you things.’ Sasuke took the menu out of Naruto’s hands and put it on the side. ‘Get naked and I’ll get you dinner.’

Sasuke didn’t have a fully formed plan in his head, more a hope that if he could get Naruto turned on to the idea of some sort of power play, Sasuke would be able to put money into Naruto’s wallet as if it was part of the game. Although he was painfully aware how easily it could fall out of fantasy and seem like Sasuke was actually treating Naruto in real life like a prostitute he was paying for sex.

Naruto, as always, was not going to make a complex situation any easier though. His skittish mood today did not necessarily mean he was going to allow himself to be dominated.

‘Kiss me and I might take my top off.’

Sasuke smirked. ‘If I kiss you, you’ll be ripping all your clothes off for me.’

Before Naruto could snap a reply back, Sasuke pulled the man against him and kissed him. He’d meant it to be a flirty teasing kiss, instead all his passion and longing emerged. He clung desperately to Naruto and thrust his tongue into the blonde’s mouth with a clear desire to taste every part of him. Naruto matched his desire, clawing through Sasuke’s hair and down his back while making a low mewing sound that seemed to come from deep inside him.

Sasuke half carried, half pushed Naruto into the nearest wall. He was able to kiss the man with even more force in this position. He pushed a leg between Naruto’s thighs and Naruto instinctively ground against it. Sasuke felt the hardness of Naruto’s cock and moaned with animal frustration that they were both still fully clothed. He stepped back to immediately correct the situation, but Naruto took advantage of the change. He threw his weight into Sasuke and propelled them both onto the bed. He wasted no time in pinning Sasuke’s arms down with his own and then began biting Sasuke’s neck. Interspersing the sharp nips with licks and kisses, obtaining that perfect balance between pleasure and pain.

Sasuke knew how to fight back, but for now he submitted and enjoyed the heat of feeling his lover above him.

Naruto dragged his teeth across Sasuke’s lips and then brutally kissed him with a hunger that felt insatiable. Sasuke twisted his hands free from Naruto’s grip, but only so he could pull the man down on top of him. He wanted the whole weight of his man pushing down on him. Naruto changed his balance so he didn’t squash Sasuke completely, but he gave him what he loved, the heaviness of his muscled form pressing Sasuke down into the mattress. Sasuke showed his gratitude by wrapping his legs around Naruto’s waist, a simple thing, but one that Naruto adored as much as being deep throated.

They moved their faces together for another kiss, in the brief moment before their lips touched, they met each other’s eyes. And Sasuke knew his husband was thinking exactly the same thing as he was, how blessed they’d been to find each other, how they would never have another lover who would understand their needs like they’d instinctively always understood each other.

Then they were kissing. It started the same as their others, hard and demanding, but then something changed in Naruto. His tongue was softer, tender, searching rather than challenging. His fists tugging on Sasuke’s hair became open caressing hands. Without realising it, the same transformation happened to Sasuke. He gently stroked the back of Naruto’s neck with a motion that was normally post coital for them.

Naruto rolled off Sasuke and lay panting beside him. Sasuke decided he should pretend he hadn’t seen the blonde quickly rubbing tears from his eyes.

‘Do you think maybe fuck buddies shouldn’t kiss?’ Naruto eventually said. ‘Maybe, yaknow, we should do the fucking bit without being too intimate about it?’

Sasuke kept his mouth firmly closed to prevent himself snapping back that they weren’t fuck buddies they were husbands, and what the hell was Naruto crying about (again!) when this whole thing from beginning to end was all down to him. Instead Sasuke went over to the side, picked up the menu, dialled room service and took out his annoyance on the staff member who even Sasuke believed could not be being paid enough to listen to an overlong tirade about there only being one vegan option on the whole menu.

‘They’re so going to spit into our food, or rub meat grease over the lettuce leaves, or something even more gross that I can’t think of,’ Naruto said when Sasuke put the phone down.

‘You’ll still eat it.’ He sat down on the bed next to Naruto and patted the blonde’s stomach. ‘Then when you’ve got your energy up, we’ll go properly. Without kissing.’

Naruto turned his head away and was still for a moment. Then with his usual gusto he sat up and pulled his top off flinging it across the room. ‘I’ve got plenty of energy right now. You kissed me, before I knew kissing was bad, so I’ll start getting naked. A deal’s a deal. Though you ordered food before I got naked, so does that mean I owe you something extra? What do you want?’

What Sasuke wanted was to continue kissing Naruto’s lips, they looked even redder and more inviting than usual due to the rough treatment they’d already received. Though all Sasuke yearned for right now was to gently run his tongue over their outline.

‘If you’ve got so much energy, despite humiliating me and complaining in front of Kakashi that you hadn’t eaten because you were so nervous, you can dance for me.’ Sasuke pulled his shoes off and propped himself up with pillows against the headboard. ‘Now, Naruto!’

‘There’s no music,’ Naruto said as if that was the only unusual thing about the request.

Sasuke shrugged. ‘That’s your problem, not mine. Make it work, blondie, or you’ll be left alone in this hotel with a room service meal that has had things done to it that you don’t want to imagine.’

Naruto kicked his own shoes and socks off then started gyrating to his own singing. At first Sasuke assumed it was one of the current pop songs that his husband was constantly drawn to, but then the lyrics descended into things of Naruto’s own creation.

‘Sasuke is such a fierce hot man, woooo, and he’ll always be my boo, he better fuck me while he can, because I am desperate for him tooo.’

Sasuke knew there was not another person in the world who could simultaneously make him rock hard and make him want to laugh. He allowed himself only the smallest of smiles as he beckoned Naruto to come closer. He pulled bills out of his wallet and pushed them into Naruto’s waistband.

Thankfully Naruto liked this play, moving and grinding his hips faster as Sasuke gave him more money.

They smiled at each other.

‘If I kiss you again, will I get you entirely naked?’ Sasuke asked, teasing his fingers over Naruto’s abs.

‘I thought we agreed no kissing?’

‘We did. But as it is a new rule that neither of us knew about, I think we should ignore it this time and implement it for our next session.’

‘Whatever you said.’ Naruto leaped on top of him and they began making out again, rolling around on the bed as they continually swapped who was dominant and changed between rough bruising kisses and tender exploratory ones.

Room service knocked four times before either of them heard. Sasuke tipped the server generously and proudly laid out on a table by the window the vegan feast that the kitchen had created gratis for them.

Sasuke smirked, ‘As I’ve told you on many occasions being a bastard is far more effective in getting results than being nice.’

‘Being filthy rich and called Uchiha is what does it for you,’ Naruto immediately replied, but his eyes were wide with happiness looking at all the food. ‘I forgot how easy life is with you. How you can make things happen with a click of your fingers.’

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. For anyone else his wealth and power would be a sure way to seduce them back, but he knew Naruto well enough that if he tried to press the point about how much more comfortable Naruto’s life would be if he returned to being a good husband, Sasuke would be more likely to throw the blonde into one of his stubborn tempers.

He settled for sitting beside Naruto, resting an arm over his husband’s naked shoulders, and casually feeding him. It was a habit that had begun from an argument. The first time Sasuke saw Naruto eat, he’d lost his composure and just stared mouth agape. He couldn’t believe that he was willingly dating, not fucking, but actually _dating_ , someone who shovelled food up as if they were a starved wild beast needing to eat quickly before someone came and stole it. He tried to teach his new boyfriend basic manners with what he considered was immense patience, but which Naruto complained was extreme irritability. Until he finally broke, and broke properly. He tied a semi-naked Naruto to a bed post and then instead of doing the sexual teasing the blonde expected, he fetched a pre-prepared platter of food and slowly fed his lover, refusing to untie him until Naruto learned to chew his food rather than wolf it down. Naruto had shouted and yelled for a bit, however, they both soon realised how much they liked this new strange game. Naruto licked Sasuke’s fingers and the palms of his hand which turned out to be extremely sensitive. And Sasuke obtained a sensual high from touching Naruto’s lips, and every time he ate something properly Sasuke rewarded his boyfriend with a kiss.

Today he didn’t kiss Naruto, but just relished the fact that his husband was allowing him to do something that was once so common to them. Naruto even leaned into Sasuke and made little content noises.

Sasuke thought that this was the best opportunity he’d had since the counselling sessions begun to speak openly and honestly to Naruto. But what would that involve saying? More of what he’d already said? That they clearly weren’t compatible, and never had been. Or addressing this new situation? Pretending to be ‘fuck buddies’ was the equivalent of putting a band aid on a gushing wound.

He squeezed Naruto’s shoulder. Or he could tell Naruto that he loved him and would do anything to get him back.

He remained silent, and focused not on the confusion of his mind, but the simple pleasure of being with the man who from the moment he’d first seen him had changed his whole life.

When the food was finished, Sasuke would have been happy to keep still holding his husband, but Naruto got up and stretched his arms out above his head.

‘I guess now you’ve fed me, you want me re-energised and ready for sex?’

Sasuke didn’t answer, his eyes momentarily mesmerised by the display of Naruto’s rippling muscles as the blonde moved.

‘So I guess you want me naked then?’ Naruto unbuckled his belt and shimmied out of his remaining clothes.

A lot of the cash that Sasuke had placed around Naruto’s person during his earlier dance had fallen out while they were messing about on the bed, the remainder now fluttered to the ground. Naruto stood in the midst of the money shower oblivious to it. The blonde ran a hand around the head of his cock which was already hardening.

‘Whatdyawanttodothen?’

Normally Sasuke could comprehend his husband so matter how long he jabbered on for, or how slurred he got when he was drunk, he even understood the nonsense syllables Naruto communicated in when he was ill. But now he stared blankly at Naruto and waited for him to repeat himself.

Naruto stared wide eyed back at him, for once reluctant to talk.

Sasuke knew he should care more than he did about Naruto’s nervousness, especially as this had all been the blonde’s idea, but it was hard to be conscientious when he was seeing Naruto naked for the first time in months. The man had always been ridiculously well toned despite his love of all things sweet, but the extra cycling he’d been doing since the separation was revealed in his muscular legs. Sasuke yearned to reacquaint himself with every inch of his husband’s body, but he knew himself well enough to know that before he could indulge a long exploration, he needed a release for his aching lust.

Holding Naruto’s gaze, he stood in front of his husband and slowly sunk to his knees. He moved his mouth to be level with Naruto’s cock. He breathed deliberately on it and slid his tongue out between his lips.

Naruto jumped back as if Sasuke was about to bite him. ‘Fuck, you look so gorgeous I almost forgot.’

Sasuke hid his annoyance at Naruto getting distracted when Sasuke was about to pleasure him, and watched seemingly indifferently as Naruto searched through the pockets of his jeans. He pulled out his wallet, and for a moment Sasuke was struck by the strange sensation that Naruto was going to pay _him_. And the even stranger realisation of how turned on he was by the fantasy of playing prostitute for his husband.

When Naruto pulled out a small metallic packet with a huge grin, Sasuke’s first emotion was disappointment.

When Naruto said, ‘Great, I’ve still got one left from the bunch that Kiba gave me,’ Sasuke’s second emotion was anger so raw that he couldn’t speak.

Naruto tilted his head to the side. ‘Should you have it or me? Maybe me? I’m very down with you sucking me, just stop before I go over, then I can fuck you? That way you can come as many times as you like and I can hold off, what do you think?’

Sasuke’s hands were clenched in fists so tight that his knuckles were white. ‘Why did Kiba give you a _bunch_ of condoms?’

‘Oh, I think we were talking one night about sex and relationships, and it somehow got onto sexual health and how in a lot of countries it is really difficult to get hold of…’

‘Get to the point, idiot.’ Sasuke felt like his whole being was gripped by rage, that he was barely balancing on the precipice of sanity. It was as if the world had turned red. But Naruto didn’t seem to notice.

‘Yeah, yeah, I know, you don’t care about what’s going on in the world unless you can make money out of it. But the point is that in this discussion it kinda came out that you and I never used protection and the guys were all saying how stupid that was, especially, yaknow, when we first got together. So Kiba gave me a ton of like ethical, proper ethical, not like your fur coat ethical, condoms and they’re vegan too…’

‘Why? Are you planning to eat them?’ Sasuke hissed. He didn’t want to be in the same room as this man anymore, but he was incapable of walking away from this conversation without knowing everything.

Naruto chuckled, ‘Not eat, but I’m hoping some licking and tasting might be happening…although if we go with the plan, it’ll be you doing the licking…unless you want me to do that thing where I…’

‘You said you only had one left, Naruto, what happened to the rest?’ Sasuke snapped.

‘Fuck, I’m trying to stay cool here, but what’s going on with you? Is me looking after my health by carrying condoms, like the virgin thing? Something you get your knickers in a twist about for no apparent reason other than having another excuse to make me feel crappy?’

In a swift movement Sasuke leapt to his feet and stood with his face inches away from Naruto’s. His voice was a low threatening growl that he had no control over ‘How many condoms exactly did Kiba give you?’

Naruto shrugged. One of the things Sasuke had always been attracted to was how Naruto was never intimidated by him. But right now he wanted to see the blonde cower and at least show some shame.

‘I didn’t count them, did I? Why would I do that? I just took them all on my dates so I was prepared whatever happened.’

‘Dates?’

When it was clear that Naruto wasn’t coming back, Sasuke had been very close to hiring a private detective to follow him. He’d been stopped in equal measure by the fact he knew Naruto would find it incredibly weird if he ever found out, and that he couldn’t stand the idea of paying someone to spend their day watching Naruto when Sasuke was denied the pleasure of even glimpsing his husband. Now he wished he had, so he could have seen the blonde’s real character and extinguished him from his heart months ago.

Naruto slumped down on the bed. ‘Yeah, I guess it counts as plural, even though there were only two of them. Danzo took me to a…’

‘Danzo? Danzo Shimura?’ Sasuke’s anger actually abated in pure disbelief that he had been dumped in favour of an old, bitter, ugly man.

‘Yeah, that Danzo. I like made this stupid drunken promise to Kiba that I’d, yaknow, check out other men…’

Danzo? Really Danzo Shimura?’

‘Yeah, still that Danzo, Sas. He was like the first person to ask, and I wanted to keep my promise to Kiba, you know I never break my promises…apart from, yaknow, leaving you…but anyway, I thought maybe as Danzo was different to you it might be a good first step…to try a relationship which might be based on something other than crazy mad physical attraction…’

‘And you took condoms to this date that wasn’t based on crazy mad physical attraction because you still planned to have sex with him?’

‘No, of course I didn’t plan or want that, but the thing with condoms is apparently to always be prepared. But, ah, Sas, it was so horrible.’ Naruto reached out his hand and Sasuke found himself taking it and gently caressing his husband’s fingers despite the wild emotions racing through his being. ‘He like met me at one of those cheap chain hotels, and, yaknow, I don’t care about money, but it was like he was taking me there because he thought it was all I was worth. And he didn’t like take me for a meal like I thought he was, he expected me to go straight to a room with him. When I refused he was all like saying horrible things to me, as if calling me your discarded whore would make me feel crap enough about myself that I’d just let him do what he wanted to me. He got really aggressive with me, trying to pull me into the room, and groping my crotch. He’s like really strong for an old dude, for any dude really, it was actually hard to shake him off.

‘Then when I phoned Kiba and told him about it, he just said that that’s what happens, a lot of people date only for sex, and sometimes are dicks when they don’t get it, and that you have to keep going until you find a decent person. And I thought how lucky I was that I had had a decent person on my very first time. All it made me want to do is crawl back to you and be safe in your arms again. The only thing that stopped me is knowing what a bad reason it was for returning to you, because the big bad world of dating was too scary for me.’

Sasuke sat down on the bed next to Naruto and ran a hand through the blonde hair. A small part of his mind was driven by his emotions, but had detached itself from them, and was logically working out in detail how to destroy Danzo once and for all so he would die destitute and alone.

‘I’m sorry,’ Sasuke said.

Naruto raised his eyes and looked genuinely curious. ‘It’s me that made a stupid decision for stupid reasons.’

‘I’m sorry that I called you a whore after the session with Gai. It’s not and has never been how I think about you. As soon as you said what Danzo called you, I remembered I’d said the same thing, and that it was worse in my case as he’s a nobody who wanted to fuck you whereas I’m your husband.’

‘It wasn’t really the same, he said I was quote _Sasuke’s discarded whore_ unquote, and you said, I was a quote _fucking, hypocritical whore_ unquote.’ Naruto grinned. ‘Completely different things.’

‘I am serious. It shouldn’t have taken me so long to apologise to you.’

Naruto shrugged. ‘I say bad things to you too when I get cross. It’s just how we roll together.’

‘You’re never deliberately hurtful.’ Sasuke put his forehead against Naruto’s hair. In almost a whisper he asked, ‘What was your other date? You said there were two.’

‘Oh, yeah, the other one. It was this artist guy called Sai, he approached us saying he was interested in helping design our posters and banners etc as he really liked what we were doing and believed in our cause. And I spent a lot of time with him, like more than I needed to because…’

Sasuke’s body was tense as he waited for Naruto to continue.

‘Because if I kinda looked at him in the right light at the right angle and squinted, he looked a bit like you.’ Naruto’s cheeks coloured as he spoke. ‘I like created this fantasy in my head that he was a better version of you because he cared about the same things I did and was really interested and even taught me a few things I didn’t know. So when he asked I said yes to a date. And it was fun and he took me to a gallery and I took him to a noodle bar, then we hit the night scene and he got a bit drunk and he confessed how he wasn’t really into any of the environmental stuff, it was me he was interested in. He’d just spotted me by chance at a protest ages ago and since then had been finding out everything he could about me. And I don’t know, maybe I should have been flattered, but I found it creepy. I didn’t say that to him, because apart from the kinda stalkering thing he’s a nice guy.  But, yaknow, I realised I was being creepy too, going out with a guy just because he reminded me of you, as I couldn’t emotionally handle being with real you and it was the next best thing. So that’s all the excitement of my love life since I walked out, what about you?’

‘You had sex with Sai before you ended it?’ Sasuke asked in a demanding voice.

‘No! What part of it being creepy did you not get? And it hardly qualifies as ending _it_ when you’ve only had one real date and like not kissed or even held hands, does it?’

Unconsciously Sasuke squeezed his own hand tighter around his husband’s. ‘So who did you have sex with?’

‘My four fingers and thumb! And even that not so often, you’ve seen how crowded my place is, it’s not exactly the environment for getting off in.’

‘Where did the rest of Kiba’s condoms go then?’ Sasuke pursued.

‘I needed to practise putting them on, didn’t I?’ Naruto stared down at the floor. ‘I didn’t want to look like a total noob when you and I hooked up again. Not that I knew we’d hook up, but I hoped we would even when I knew it was the exact opposite to what I should be hoping for and…’

‘And why would you need to use condoms with me? We never have before. You’re uncomfortable feeling so connected to me now?’

‘Sasuke, I know it’s one of the things we never outright talked about.’ Naruto raised his eyes to meet Sasuke’s. ‘And I know I miss a lot of social cues and things which are obvious to normal people, but even I realise that you didn’t exactly live the life of a monk before me, and I’m guessing that with me gone you’ve…’

Sasuke put his fingers on Naruto’s lips. ‘I’ve been entirely celibate waiting for the day you return to me. You know I am not one to overdramatise so you’ll believe me when I say, with the divorce looming I’ve already realised that I don’t want anyone but you sexually in my life again. My desire left when you left, and is reignited only when I see you or think about you.’

For a long while they only gazed at each other and then Naruto smiled and spoke lightly.

‘So you’re saying I wasted all those vegan condoms? I hope you appreciate they weren’t easy to put on either, a couple of times I thought I was like properly strangling my cock!’

Sasuke’s eyes flicked teasingly down to Naruto’s groin. ‘You realise your cock needs a larger than average size, don’t you?’

‘Condoms come in different sizes?’

Sasuke put his hands on either side of Naruto’s face. ‘You truly are my inexperienced virgin boy, aren’t you?’

‘I’ll show you how inexperienced I am.’ Naruto pulled Sasuke on to his lap and slid his hand down the back of his trousers and inside his boxers.

Naruto’s fingers delved and explored as Sasuke whimpered with the pure pleasure of feeling his husband’s intimate touch again.

It wasn’t long before Sasuke was as naked as Naruto and they were both under the covers kissing and toying with each other.

‘Do you want me inside you, Sasuke? There’s got to be some expensive lotion around in a place like this which we can use as lube.’

Sasuke smirked. ‘You carry condoms to a rendezvous but not lube?’

 ‘I’m your idiot, you don’t expect me to think of everything.’ Naruto moved to explore the room, but Sasuke wrapped his legs around him and held him in place.

‘You want it rough? I wasn’t getting that sort of vibe from you today?’ Naruto asked.

‘No.’ Sasuke caressed his hand over Naruto’s cheek. ‘It’s more the reverse vibe. I’m sorry, baby, I can’t be your fuck buddy, I can’t just do sex with you, Naruto. I want _you_. All of you, It’s driving me frantic thinking of you dating other men. I wouldn’t cope if I was no more than a few hours release in a hotel room while you searched out someone who suits you better than I do. But I know it’d need only the smallest crack in my resolve to let that happen, because nothing in the world feels as good as being with you. So for my sanity, if we’re going to break, I know I’m going to need it to be a clean break.’

Naruto untwined himself from Sasuke and flopped down next to him covering his face with his hands. ‘I get that. I know. I sooo know. It’s just doing what’s good for us is too painful. It’s like being thrown out of the feast at the palace and suddenly having a life where all you’re going to get to eat each and every day is what you can scavenge from bins.’

Sasuke placed his head on Naruto’s chest. ‘You’re strong. You were the one who managed to walk away from me when you saw how badly matched we were. And doesn’t scavenging in bins suit your recycling eco ethics far better than dining in exclusive places and eating food flown twice around the world and with a carbon footprint bigger than the elephants that are dying as their habitats are destroyed to make way for more farms to grow rich people’s luxury food?’

Naruto chuckled. ‘I’ve got to be honest, you listen to my environmental rants way more than I listen to your drone about your day at work.’ He played with Sasuke’s hair for a while before saying in a tentative voice, ‘Bastard?’

‘Yes, idiot.’

‘Can we at least be cuddle buddies? For tonight? Please.’

‘I’d like that.’

Without speaking another word they wrapped their bodies tightly together, both too aware of their own and each other’s erections, but determined to just enjoy the comforting warmth of their husband after so much time alone.


	5. The Fifth Hour

Naruto waited impatiently for a letter, or call, or e-mail, or anything from Itachi saying when the final counselling session would be. But nothing came. The deal had been five hours, five hours for a divorce settlement that’d keep him in comfort for the rest of his life. Or as Kiba and him were planning, to live themselves at subsistence level and channel most of the money into buying a sizeable piece of woodland and maintaining it as a wildlife reserve. That would remain a wild dream though if the fifth hour didn’t happen. They’d had a deal and there was no way he was going to give Sasuke an easy divorce if his husband bailed out of their last planned meeting. Naruto frowned remembering that he was supposed to be the one wanting and pushing Sasuke into an official separation, not the one making things difficult.

He wondered if other people, who hadn’t been brought up as lonely orphans, or in a family where love was something you had to earn through overachieving, had simpler, healthier romantic lives, or if it was the same emotional mess for everyone?

Then at five in the morning Itachi did ring.

His words were simple. ‘Sasuke needs you. He is at the hospital.’

It was Hinata’s turn for the bed, so Naruto was lying in a sleeping bag nearest the door when he got the call. He slipped his feet into the nearest pair of shoes and ran out of the apartment without pausing to dress or wake any of his friends.

He jumped down the stairs, two, three at a time. In the hallway he realised he should have got the keys to unpadlock Kiba’s bike, or seen if he could have scrabbled enough money together for a taxi, but he didn’t break his stride. He got faster as he ran out into the early morning air. The momentary shock of the cold against his bare torso, made him catch his breath but he kept on speeding down the road. At some point his brain registered the hardness of the pavement under his feet and he was aware that he’d lost one of his shoes. He kicked the other one off and kept going.

When he arrived at the hospital it took an infuriatingly long time to convince the receptionist he wasn’t a homeless person, or a drunk, wondering in to cause trouble, but was desperately searching for his husband. Finally he got directed to an office, not a hospital room, but someone’s office. His heart pounded as he ignored the wait for the elevator and raced up the stairs. Was he already too late? Was it always too late? Had Itachi called him to deliver the news in person rather than over the phone…did he need Naruto as the official next of kin to…Naruto made a wailing sound that echoed through the stairwell.

Although he wasn’t aware of his eyes focusing on or seeing anything, he found himself on the right floor, in front of a door with the name ‘Tsunade’ on it. And he stopped. His hand trembled as he reached forward to turn the handle.

It’d be a car accident. But Sasuke was a good driver. Except for that time he’d almost run Naruto over. It’d be a car accident. The new eco car he’d bought to impress Naruto was too small. Naruto pictured it squashed and Sasuke’s mangled remains inside. His beautiful body destroyed. And him slowly bleeding out. Dying alone. Not knowing how much Naruto loved him.

‘Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.’ Naruto pressed his forehead against the wood. Then he opened the door and stepped into the office.

He blinked. His body was tired. His head spinning. He was imagining things. He was imagining Sasuke very much alive, leaning over the desk of an angry, busty blonde woman, growling in his most authoritative voice, ‘Tell me _right now_ where my husband is.’

The woman rested her head in one hand. ‘Remember, it’s only because Itachi is such a generous patron to this hospital that I am putting up with your rudeness, young man and haven’t kicked you flying out of this whole building. But I will tolerate it this one and only time, and tell you that your husband is standing half naked behind you.’

Sasuke turned slowly and dark eyes met Naruto’s. The Uchiha mask vanished and the only emotions on Sasuke’s face were love and absolute relief.

Without being aware of moving, Naruto found himself in Sasuke’s arms, breathing in the warm scent of his lover, covering his neck and face with kisses. Sasuke gripped him tightly so he could barely move, and Naruto knew there was no mistaking the familiar heat surrounding him. This was real.

‘You’re okay…you’re okay…I was so scared,’ Naruto whispered between kisses.

‘Are you okay? Are you okay?’ Sasuke murmured back. ‘I was terrified thinking I’d lost you.’ He pushed Naruto slightly away from him and ran his hands over Naruto’s head, chest and arms as if he was checking for injuries. ‘What happened? Tell me everything.’

The blonde woman got up from behind the desk. ‘I’ll leave you two alone to…talk.’ 

Sasuke pulled Naruto against his body in an even firmer embrace. ‘I’m sorry for my temper, Ms Tsunade. It appears that there was some sort of miscommunication problem that led me to believe…to believe…’ Sasuke swallowed audibly.

The woman chuckled. ‘I think I’ve won my first bet in years today, and your brother of all people thought my idea was cruel and sadistic.’ She laughed warmly. ‘Just pass on a message that I’ll be waiting for my payment, because if my plan doesn’t work it’s his part that has gone wrong, not mine.’ She walked out of the door without waiting for a reply.

‘What did that all mean?’ Naruto mumbled into Sasuke’s chest. It was an automatic question, he didn’t really care about the answer, he cared about Sasuke being alive and close to him. But then something else struck him, and he strained against Sasuke’s strong hold on him to straighten up and look his husband in the eye. ‘Sasuke Uchiha…did you just willingly and freely and unnecessarily apologise to someone?’

Sasuke’s gaze lowered to Naruto’s lips and a haze came over his expression. Naruto suspected a similar glazed look was on his own face, because when Sasuke leaned into kiss him, his mouth was open and ready.

His heart thumped harder from the kiss than it had from the race to the hospital.

‘I’m trying to be a better person. Losing you is the wakeup call I shouldn’t have needed.’ Sasuke said when he finally pulled away. He gently settled Naruto down in a chair and ran his hands over the blonde’s chest and arms again as if he still couldn’t believe his husband was okay. ‘I always listened to you, Naruto, but I never heard you. Does that make sense?’

‘No.’ Naruto reached for Sasuke trying to pull him close for another kiss, but Sasuke resisted, instead dropping to his knees and massaging Naruto’s bare feet.

‘What’ve you done to yourself, idiot? I’m guessing you got a call from Itachi similar to mine, but you should have at least paused to get dressed. Look at all the scratches and grazes on your skin? And you must be freezing.’ Sasuke took his jacket off and passed it to Naruto.

Naruto put it around his shoulders, not because he was cold, there were beads of sweat all over his body, but just for the sensation of having something against his skin that Sasuke had worn.

For the first time Naruto looked properly at his husband, rather than just being in a dazed happiness that Sasuke was still alive. He’d seen Sasuke look plenty dishevelled during and after make out sessions, but he’d never seen Sasuke actually look a mess. Until now. He was a man who didn’t know what bedhair was, even on the rare occasions he’d convinced Sasuke to camp under the stars with him, Sasuke still woke up looking perfect. But today he looked bedraggled and tangled, there were dark circles under his eyes and a sallow tinge to his skin. His shirt hadn’t been done up right, one button was even missing, and it was half tucked in and half hanging out. His fly was undone. And as Naruto looked more carefully he saw that Sasuke had odd socks and his shoes were on the wrong feet.

Naruto dropped to the floor beside Sasuke. He indicated for Sasuke to put his feet on Naruto’s lap. There was no hesitation, Sasuke immediately stretched his legs out and obeyed. Naruto pulled Sasuke’s shoes off and massaged the man’s socked feet in a reflection of how a moment before Sasuke had been touching him.

 ‘Have you been ill, Sas?’ He asked quietly. Uchihas were famous for never needing sickdays off work, if Sasuke wasn’t well it’d be something serious. Naruto’s fear returned, but somehow he kept his voice casual. ‘ _I_ look like I’d always look receiving what I thought was an emergency call, but you…I remember when you got that call in the middle of the night about some stock market crash on the other side of the world and how you said it could wipe the zeros off our bank account. And you got dressed superfast and still looked flawless. Then there was that time that there was that hostile takeover…’

 Sasuke’s brow creased up in undisguised distress. ‘Do you really think losing money in any way compares to losing you? I revealed myself to you, Naruto, I didn’t hide any part from you…and you still think that I’m some bastard who cares more about wealth than his husband? You’re the only lover I’ve ever trusted, and…’ Sasuke covered his face with his hands for a moment before he looked back at Naruto. ‘Why were you ever with me, when you obviously think I am such a shallow, worthless person? Were you just waiting for an excuse to leave me? Is that why when I gave you the fur coat you immediately decided it was an insult and walked out? Or is what you see true, am I a bad person?’

Naruto’s mind whirled at Sasuke’s words, he didn’t know if he was mentally capable of processing them right now, he was still in turmoil from the phone call and rushing here and then Sasuke being okay and the kiss…that amazing kiss.

Naruto contained his tumultuous emotions. He simply put his hand on Sasuke’s cheek and tried to deflate some of the tension by jokingly saying, ‘As a very wise person once said to me, it’s not you, it’s me.’

They both smiled, but Sasuke wouldn’t let it go so easily.

‘Didn’t I make you feel loved? I thought you knew I’d do anything for you.’

Naruto dropped his eyes. The question was to direct for him to ignore or deflect it. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say, he just let the words slip out. ‘When we have sex I feel this impossible happiness…I don’t mean coming…I mean this beautiful sense of peace that somehow my life has turned out to be absolutely amazing. But, yaknow, sometimes when we’re arguing I feel like we’re just an embarrassment to each other. I mean, you must’ve asked yourselves tons of times seriously how you ended up married to a guy who protests against businesses your firm is trying to deal with. And like, yaknow, when I’m lying in front of bulldozers fighting to prevent one old tree being killed, me and all my friends and all my enemies know when it’s over I go back to a house paid for by the blood money of half the rainforest and its inhabitants being burnt down. And if you want me to be totally honest, I catch myself sometimes not caring about all the pain in the world…I think I’m making no real difference, so I should be like you, like you want me to be, and only think about my own needs, and do what I want every day, which is just to wait in bed for you to be home with me again.’ 

Naruto was vaguely aware he was talking in present tense, when it should be past. Everything was past. So why right now was Sasuke wrapping his arms around him?

‘I know all the horrible, insulting things I’ve said to you, but I am proud of you. I complain because that’s who I am, but as much as I like thinking of you in bed always waiting for me, I prefer thinking of you passionate about the world and fighting for what you believe in,’ Sasuke softly said.

‘You want me wearing a fur coat.’ Naruto managed to give a small chuckle. ‘The worse thing is that I know if you’d caught me in a slightly different mood, or made it clear why you were giving me that disgusting thing, I’d have wanted to make you happy. I’d have _enjoyed_ making you happy. I think I could lose my whole self, everything I’ve always believed in, in your kisses. And I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing. Because, yaknow, before you became my boyfriend, every day was so difficult. Then it’s like you switched the lights on and everything was suddenly glittery rainbows.’

Sasuke smirked. ‘I don’t think any Uchiha has ever been accused of turning the world into glittery rainbows. But none have been fortunate enough to have you.’ He kissed Naruto on the forehead. ‘I suspect, it is of no relevance now, but I didn’t give you a full answer about why it bothered me so much that you were a virgin before we met.’

Naruto blushed. It was difficult to keep up with the turns of this conversation, all he wanted was to be in bed with Sasuke, falling asleep in his arms knowing that they were both safe. But Sasuke wanted to talk. And he wanted to talk about Naruto’s sexual inexperience and how he’d bungled into starting his one and only relationship with dishonesty.

Naruto gave a small, dismissive shrug, trying to appear cooler than he felt, he had picked up a few things being married to an Uchiha. ‘It’s okay, I get it. You thought you knew me totally, and then I drop this random information on you, and it makes you question what other stuff I haven’t told you, and makes you think that you don’t know me after all.’

‘No, it’s more than that. Deeper. You remember how uncomfortable I was when you said you were nineteen after we’d…’

‘Uncomfortable?’ Naruto laughed. ‘I thought you were going to have a…’

‘Heart attack, I know. You’ve used that comparison before. If I seemed over the top, it was because your age worried me.’

‘No shit, Sherlock.’

‘Naruto, I’m trying to share with you all the things I’ve been working out, please. Just please.’ Sasuke took a deep breath. ‘I realise now, although I couldn’t have put it in words at the time, and probably wouldn’t have believed it even if I could, but I fell in love with you the first moment I saw you. And knowing what I was like, and the people I associated with were like, as teenagers.. .I assumed you were the same by how sexually skilled you were. And in short I was scared that even if you called yourself my boyfriend you would be incapable of committing to me…’

Naruto made a guffawing sound of disbelief. ‘ _Me_ have trouble committing to _you_? Have you seen yourself, I mean really seen yourself? Not how hot you are, that’s obvious, but the aura around you, although come to think of it, that’s not something you can see, is it? But you’ve got to be totally aware that you have this totally irresistible air around you. It’s like this powerful stillness, even when yaknow, we’re going at it, in the fighty way rather than the sexy way, you’re like incredibly magnetic and attractive. How could I not commit one hundred percent to that?’

‘Hnnnn.’

Naruto blushed again. He was not good in the morning. He was not good around Sasuke. And he was absolutely terrible when he was recovering from the panic of thinking that something really bad had happened to his husband.

‘Just because I left doesn’t mean that I am not a hundred percent committed to you.’ He realised how ridiculous it sounded, but hoped somehow Sasuke knew what he meant because Naruto had no idea how to express to the other man that even if Naruto accepted they weren’t compatible, he’d never stop loving him. Then it struck him all he had to say was the words he’d just thought, but Sasuke continued speaking.

‘When I had my first times, both with men and women, I never told anyone involved because they weren’t important to me and…

‘Fuck, Sas, you know, you _so_ know, that wasn’t the case between you and me. I wouldn’t have had sex with you, even have kissed you, if there wasn’t that instant connection between us. You’re so so important to me.’

‘That’s what I am trying to say. Right from the moment we first touched, you were open to wherever things went with us What I assumed was you being experienced, was you trusting me and giving me absolutely everything. And I didn’t treasure that. I lost it.’ Sasuke pressed his forehead into Naruto’s shoulder. ‘I’ve had such jealousy, pain that burns through my very soul, thinking of other people touching you. But you were always all mine. And now you’re going to be someone else’s.’

Sasuke said the last sentence so softly that Naruto wasn’t sure he heard it correctly.

He wrapped his arms around Sasuke and tried to speak lightly. ‘There’s like hardly a big long queue waiting for me. In all the months we’ve been split up there’s been two guys who’ve wanted me, and you know how those went down. With like zilcho going down involved. So I think it’s going to take a while to meet someone new and you’re going to remain the only person in the world who’s been blessed with the whole Naruto Uchi…the Naruto Uzumaki experience for a bit longer!’

 It was the wrong thing to say. Sasuke’s body tensed. And the blonde tensed himself with the certainty that Sasuke was going to walk away from him and he’d never get a chance to talk to him like this again.

In a panic words tumbled out of Naruto’s mouth. ‘When I thought something bad had happened, Sas, when I thought that I’d never feel you touch me again, I could barely breathe. You’re the only man I’ve ever wanted, I don’t ever want to be with anyone else.’

Tears fell down Naruto’s face, he didn’t know if it was the relief bursting free that Sasuke was okay, or the absolute despair that something had gone wrong between them and neither of them knew how to fix it.

His body shook with a loud and ugly sob. Which was obviously the perfect moment for Itachi to walk into the office.

The tall man put his briefcase down on the desk before looking down at his younger brother and Naruto wrapped around each other on the floor. There was nothing in his expression to show there was anything unexpected in the sight.

‘It’s good to see you, Naruto, it’s been too long.’ He gave Sasuke a nod of greeting. ‘I’m glad to see you both made this final agreed meeting.’

Sasuke stood up awkwardly. Awkwardly, because he seemed both unwilling and incapable of letting go of Naruto and pulled his husband up with him.

‘How the hell could you pull a stunt like this on us, Itachi? It wasn’t fair…it’s not fair, how could you do this to me?’ Sasuke’s voice began filled with righteous anger, but turned quickly into a hurt little brother tone.

Naruto rubbed Sasuke’s back. ‘He didn’t do it on purpose, he didn’t want us to think that…it was just a misunderstanding thing.’

‘Idiot, don’t you get it yet?’ Sasuke growled, but he still sounded younger than his years rather than angry. ‘There’s no misunderstanding in calling us both to the hospital at five o’ clock in the morning with no information except the other one needs us.’

Naruto stroked back the hair that was sticking down on Sasuke’s damp forehead. ‘I’m sure there’s a really simple explanation.’

‘Yes, there is. It was supposed to scare us into realising how much we…’ Sasuke turned his head away from Naruto and stared at Itachi. ‘A cheap trick like that is below you. Far below you. Whatever your explanation is, I don’t want to hear it. I thought you were different to the rest of the family, and you are, you’re worse than them. I trusted you, and you’ve treated me like a joke. You must have been laughing so hard when I obeyed you and went off to see the comic parade of people you found to pretend to be professional counsellors. Did you find it funny when Naruto and I split up? No…I know…I’m the stupid one, you were relieved, weren’t you? You were jealous of how happy we were together, that I’d found someone I loved and you were left all alone with no purpose in your life but being father’s lapdog.’

Sasuke spluttered into tears his body shaking. Naruto supported the whole weight of the other man as Sasuke collapsed against him. He stroked a hand through his husband’s hair and made comforting noises. In all their time together, he’d never seen Sasuke like this, so vulnerable, confused and lost.

Naruto’s instinct was to lash out at Itachi, who had somehow caused Sasuke all this pain. But within his tired, emotionally exhausted brain, he was certain that Itachi would never do anything to purposely hurt his little brother. There was only one person ultimately responsible for Sasuke’s breakdown.

‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’ Naruto bent his head so his mouth was close to Sasuke’s ear. ‘I shouldn’t have walked out on you. I was so angry and hurt, but I never meant to break my vows to you. I didn’t realise it’d be the end. I was sure you’d come after me.’

Sasuke made a sound like a wounded animal. Heavy tears fell down Naruto’s cheeks.

‘How…why…come after you? I don’t want you…to hate me…for trying to make you come back…when you don’t want to come back…you…tell everyone you want a divorce…even…even people like…Tobirama say to my face…how you can’t stand me…how you laugh on the streets about fucking me for my money…I wouldn’t care…I wouldn’t care if the whole world mocked me…as long as you were still my friend…don’t hate me…please, don’t hate me.’ Sasuke trembled in Naruto’s arms.

Naruto took the jacket off that Sasuke had given him earlier and put it back on the other man. Sasuke’s body was almost boneless, he let Naruto put his arms through the sleeves as if he had no will of his own. Naruto knew that Sasuke wasn’t trembling because of the cold, but it was the only practical thing he could do. He was scared that if he opened his mouth to speak, there’d be no words only a never-ending animal wail. He hoped that Sasuke would understand by his actions that he wanted to always keep his husband warm and safe.

‘You do hate me then, you can’t deny it,’ Sasuke said. ‘It’s clear you’d rather be naked then have my clothing against your skin.’

As if a switch had been flipped, Sasuke suddenly straightened up and stepped away from Naruto and turned towards his brother. The change was so abrupt that if Sasuke’s eyes hadn’t been so red, Naruto would’ve thought he’d imagined all Sasuke’s tears and heartbreak.

‘What do you need from me to get this divorce through as quickly as possible?’ Sasuke said in the voice he used for all his official business.

‘I’ve brought some paperwork with me for you to begin looking through,’ Itachi replied equally efficiently.

‘Understand, I don’t care about the details, give Mr Uzumaki whatever he wants, I care about the speed.’

‘Do I get any say in all of this?’ Naruto’s voice was louder than he intended it, he was still weeping, but at least he’d managed to say something.

‘If you listened you would have heard me clearly say Mr Uzumaki, that’s you in case you’re unaware of your own name, can have whatever he wants. Therefore, added to the fact that it is you who initiated all this and repeatedly vocalised a wish for a divorce, I believe anyone would agree, you get a very large say in _all of this_.’ Sasuke spoke in his slowest most infuriating voice, but it didn’t spark even the smallest flicker of anger in Naruto.

‘The whole thing of divorce came up from your father telling me that he wouldn’t let a street rat like me humiliate his family any further and threatening all the things that would happen to me if I didn’t return straight away to you. And I might of kinda lost my temper at what he was saying, but more at the fact that you hadn’t come found me yourself, and I might of kinda yelled about how I was going to pull you through the messiest most horrible divorce that would keep all the snobby gossips busy for years and would mean no one else would ever want to go near you again once I spilled all my secrets. But surely if your dad told you anything of what I said, you’d recognise it as just me being crazy mad at you, not me speaking true.’ Naruto reached out and took Sasuke’s hand. Sasuke fingers hung limply within Naruto’s, but he didn’t pull away. ‘I don’t know if I stuck with the idea of divorce because I’m a stubborn bastard just like you, or…if I hoped, yaknow, that with divorce on the table it might finally kick you into coming and seeing me…but it didn’t. And here we are.’

Naruto stared down at Sasuke’s feet in their odd socks without the shoes that Naruto had taken off earlier. He swallowed back what felt like another ocean of tears. ‘Sas, you were in my arms a moment ago begging me not to hate you. It’s like my own heart was being ripped out. If you’d been like that when I left…I wouldn’t have been able to take a step towards the door. But you put this shell up like you’re doing right now and…’

‘And you want me on my knees crying and grovelling for you to stay.’ Sasuke did pull his hand away now and folded his arms across his chest. ‘I get it now. I have all the power in our relationship, I’m richer, better looking, successful, older and more experienced, and you want to flex your emotional muscles to boost your ego and make you feel as if you’re important.’  

‘I’m not sure about the better looking.’ Naruto tried a grin, Sasuke didn’t even bother looking at him. ‘Okay, seriously, you _don’t_ get it…but I think I do. Or part of it any rate. The Itachi part.’ Naruto glanced towards the older Uchiha who so far had been almost completely silent and was just watching the two of them with an unreadable expression. ‘I think he thought that if he could break through our stubbornness, and get the two of us to see each other again then, yaknow, whatever it is between us would just click and we’d be all over one another like normal. He set up the counselling thing just as a way to get us into a neutral place, and he chose Ino because she was inexperienced, which I thought was really odd at the time, but I now realise that was part of his plan. Itachi obviously knows how adverse you are to psychologists and whatever, and probably figured that once you saw she wasn’t going to be capable of poking about in your head, you’d relax and you and me would just talk which is the whole point of it anyway.’

Even though he knew Sasuke so much better, his husband’s expression and body language was right now as indecipherable to him as Itachi’s. As no one else was saying anything though, Naruto decided to bluster on. One good thing about being absolutely dog tired and emotionally drained was it meant you cared less about what you were saying and how other’s reacted to you. Not that he could ever stop caring what Sasuke was thinking, but it at least took the edge of nervousness away that might prevent him talking altogether another time.

‘But Itachi is obviously really smart and had lots of backups in case it didn’t work with Ino, so yaknow, Gai, Jiraiya and Kakashi were all supposed to just prod us in certain directions and make us realise that…’

Sasuke turned his head and glared at Naruto. And there were his full-blown doubts and insecurities returned at double force.

‘Um…yaknow…make us realise…that…we…l..l..like you. A lot.’

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Naruto but directed his speech at his brother. ‘This drama is probably very amusing for you, Itachi, but can we just get this over with. I’m sure your cohort in todays scheme wants her office back at some point. Just give the boy his divorce, he’s earned it. He’s spent well over five hours in my company. He even went to a hotel room with me last time to become fuckbuddies that don’t kiss. That ended in disaster, the same as our whole attempt at a relationship.’

‘It wasn’t a disaster. We talked to each other and were honest, and we realised that neither of us wanted sex like that. We held each other. It was nice, Sas. I liked being with you. I wished we could have…’

‘Shut up, Naruto! Just shut up! I’m not going to cry for you again, so get over yourself.’ Sasuke stormed forward and opened Itachi’s briefcase. ‘Tell me what to sign to get him clean out of my life. You’re like a wound that’s gone septic and needs to be cut out, Naruto. That’s all you are.’ Despite Sasuke’s words, the tears were falling down his face again. He picked up a wad of paper and began desperately flicking through them. ‘What is this, Itachi? Is this a joke?’

‘No, not at all, little brother.’ Itachi calmly leaned forward and flicked Sasuke in the middle of the forehead. ‘It should be obvious. I am not a divorce lawyer, I’m a businessman, like you are Sasuke. And I’ve been waiting for a long time, long before poor Naruto lost patience and left, for you to see the obvious opportunity that fell figuratively, and literally, into your lap when Naruto became your boyfriend.’ Itachi took the papers away from Sasuke where the younger Uchiha’s tears were dropping on them and placed them back in the case. ‘It seemed so natural that I assumed you would come to me with the idea when you were ready. But unfortunately I did not foresee how blind you’d be.’

Naruto stepped up to the desk. He craned over to see what was in Itachi’s case, but although it was written in English, his brain had already switched off trying to work out why it was upsetting Sasuke so much before he even got through the first sentence.

Fortunately Itachi was now in a mood to explain rather than observe. ‘The very way you met Naruto, should have led you to this place, he was attacking our house because the Uchiha name is associated with incredibly unethical activities.’

‘Naruto and his little band of merry men are nothing and no one,’ Sasuke retorted. ‘They’re not a reflection of how most people think or what they care about.’

‘Perhaps, not yet, but we should always be ahead of our competitors, we should be innovating.’ Itachi touched his fingers to Sasuke’s forehead in a more tender gesture than the previous flick. ‘I was so proud of you, had so much hope for you, when you came out to our parents. I admired how strong you were against all the opposition to your relationship and then your marriage. I thought you’d been braver and wiser than me and found a new way of doing things. But then you carried on in the business striking the same deals, crossing the same murky lines as you’d always done. We don’t have to be like our parents, little brother.’

Naruto instinctively stood close to his husband and put an arm around his waist. He didn’t quite understand what was going on or being said, but he did know that Sasuke was more vulnerable than he’d ever been before and needed support.

Sasuke’s eyes darted to the side to meet Naruto’s, as their gazes met, Naruto realised something that was so obvious he’d somehow ignored it. Him and Sasuke were different people, they thought differently and they reacted differently. Naruto knew that, so why had he judged Sasuke against how he himself would act? If Sasuke walked away from him, Naruto would chase him down, that’s how he showed his love and devotion by never giving up. So when Sasuke had gone silent, Naruto had taken that as a straight rejection. Likewise, when Naruto saw anyone visibly in pain he had to help them, he couldn’t imagine being any other way. He’d tried (and failed) to explain to his husband, that if Sasuke had shown his true emotions and looked in anyway upset, Naruto’s anger would have vanished and he would have fallen at Sasuke’s feet desperate to make him happy.

But Sasuke didn’t work like that, he had never had to chase after anyone in his whole life, he had no idea how to. He showed his love by giving Naruto space and patiently waiting for the blonde to come back to him when he was ready. That’s what Sasuke had been trying (and failing) to explain to him. For Sasuke pursuing someone who was choosing to leave, staying with someone who was crying when they hadn’t asked you to, was an invasion and an intrusion. The indoctrination of his emotionally cold childhood, had left Sasuke with the deep sense that the greatest respect you could show someone was to not interfere and instead leave them to deal with their problems alone.

They knew this about each other, so why had things got so confused? And so painfully lonely.

‘I’m really tired, Sas,’ Naruto said softly, ‘so I might be thinking I’m working things out when really I’m just getting it more wrong, so just tell me things straight. I want to be with you, and I think you need me more than ever, but if I really am annoying you, and you’d rather be alone with Itachi to work out whatever shit is going on between you, tell me, and I’ll leave without another word. I won’t get in a huff and I’ll be waiting and wanting to hear from you whenever you’re ready.’

 Naruto’s mouth fell open as Sasuke dropped to his knees and started kissing Naruto’s bare feet.

‘Please. Please. Don’t leave me again. If you want me to beg, I’ll beg. I don’t care about my pride. I want you. I’ll do whatever you ask me to do. I love you so much, I’m broken without you. I love you. I love you.’

Naruto curled his body over the top of Sasuke’s. ‘I don’t want you to beg. Please stop that. You’re my King, you’re my everything. I love you.’

Gradually he managed to coax Sasuke into sitting up, he put his hand on Sasuke’s forehead. ‘You’re burning up.’ Naruto’s worried blue eyes gazed up at Itachi’s. ‘He’s burning up, he really needs a doctor!’

***

Naruto moved awkwardly around the bedroom he’d shared with Sasuke for so many years before walking out. They’d had wild, stupid, funny, and totally uninhibited sex here more times than he could count, and now Naruto couldn’t sit down on a chair for more than a minute without feeling the need to leap up and pace around.

It'd be easier if he could get Kurama to stay with him, but the cat was making it very clear that after leaving Naruto needed to work for months and months to earn back the right to stroke him. Instead of having his pet to distract him, Naruto kept pulling on the clothes he was wearing. Itachi had found from somewhere spare clothes and shoes for him in the long wait at the hospital, but he was back in his own things, that he'd left behind and Sasuke had kept hanging in the closet all this time. Somehow he found that both disconcerting and hopeful. Sasuke was definitely the type to make a bonfire out of an exes belongings, or less dramatically just throw them all in the trash, but he'd left all Naruto's clothes where they were, and even washed the things that Naruto remembered were in the laundry when he walked out.

It’d been easier when he’d had something to do when Sasuke had been awake and he could keep himself busy mopping his brow, getting him ice cold glasses of water, slowly and carefully spooning soup into his mouth. But his husband had been asleep for more than an hour and all Naruto could do was watch and hover.

It would have been even easier if Sasuke had agreed to stay in the hospital overnight for more tests, a hospital room was anonymous with no intimate inappropriate memories. Naruto could have sat happily there all night, chatting with the nurses, reading out of date magazines, attending to all Sasuke’s needs and being the dutiful concerned husband without needing to step a foot in the house that had once been his home.

He looked over at the door. There was no reason for him to be in the room. Sasuke had got past the worst of the fever incredibly quickly as if he had remembered that he was an Uchiha and wasn’t supposed to ever get ill. Sasuke probably wouldn’t even want to wake up and find him here. But Naruto followed his emotions not logic, and he looked away from the door, returned his attention to his sleeping husband and continued with his anxious pacing.

Later when he was leaving his hand on Sasuke’s forehead for much longer than was strictly necessary for a cursory check of the man’s temperature, his husband’s eyes flicked open.

Naruto’s cheeks flushed and he snatched his hand away.

Sasuke’s smile was shy, but he reached out with confidence and took Naruto’s hand in his own and put it to his lips.

‘You’re wrong,’ Sasuke said.

‘ _I’m_ wrong?’ Naruto gazed at him wide eyed. His mind whirled with what he’d done to upset the other man, and worried how long Sasuke had been awake, if he knew how much Naruto had been staring at him and using any excuse to touch him. But he kept all those concerns out of his voice and rebuked his former lover, ‘I’m not the one who has been working all around the clock making myself ill.’

‘I worked because I couldn’t sleep.’ Sasuke managed to push himself up slightly in bed while still holding onto Naruto’s hand. Automatically Naruto leaned forward and helped him, although his blush deepened and he was aware of Sasuke’s body as something he enjoyed very much being close to, rather than as an ill person he was looking after.

‘You’re wrong,’ Sasuke repeated.

‘You want me to go? I need to ring Itachi then, he only left as he knew I was here, and I won’t leave until he returns…and first you need to give me my hand back.’

‘You’re wrong, idiot. What you’re thinking. I can see it in your eyes, you think what I said and did earlier was because I’m ill. And obviously Itachi’s little…trick did push me over the edge into being sick with worry, I would’ve been more eloquent if I’d been in my right mind.’

‘Obviously. Normally you’re the most eloquent guy I know and not a grumpy, sulking bastard.’ Naruto grinned, but his mouth was as dry as if he was the one that was ill.

‘I kissed your feet because I love you, not because I was feverish. I’ll drop to my knees in front of you morning and night for the rest of our lives if that’s what makes you happy. I’ll do it right now if it’ll prove to you I mean it.’ Sasuke started to peel the bedcovers away with his spare hand, but Naruto immediately stopped him.

‘I know you’re not used to it, but ill people have to stay in bed and do what they’re told.’ He pulled his hand away from Sasuke who was too weak to hold onto him, and busied himself tucking the sheets back around the other man. He spoke in a light jovial voice as if it wasn’t their whole life together being discussed. ‘And besides if you’re planning to get on your knees in front of me all the time, I’d be wanting you to be kissing something other than my feet.’

‘I’ll do that, Naruto, I’ll think my life is perfect if you let me suck your cock every single day.’ Sasuke’s voice was too serious.

Naruto turned away reminding himself that despite what he was saying. Sasuke was only saying these things because of the shock of the day. All the empty months of Sasuke saying nothing to him, that was the real man. He bit his lip remembering how it’d felt like such an epiphany when he’d worked out that Sasuke had stayed away because he believed that was what Naruto wanted, not because Sasuke didn’t care for him. But now after such a long day he wondered if it had just been wishful thinking.

‘Would you like me to beg to suck your cock? I can do that for you.’ Sasuke made to crawl out of the bed and Naruto had to hold him down at his shoulders to keep him in place.

‘What is up with you today? When have I ever giving the slightest indication I expect you to go around begging and kneeling in front of me? And when have you been a man who would even think about doing things like that? Oh, I know, what is up with you, you’re overworked, overtired, and suffering some sort of after daze from your fever or the drugs the doc gave you. Luckily for you I am way too worn out myself to take advantage of you or I’d have you rolling on your belly like a puppy dog and I’d never let you forget it.’

Sasuke smiled and gave a small puppy whine. ‘If that’s what you want, that’s what I’ll do.’ Then he gazed into Naruto’s eyes seriously. ‘I’m a practical man, Naruto, and right now I’m a scared man. I know it doesn’t work like this, but I’m desperate for you to tell me something that I can do that’ll bring you back to me, and then I can keep doing it and be secure that you’ll never leave me. I’m frightened that all we have left is circling around the same conversation again and again, repeating again and again, how we’re attracted to each other but it’s impossible for it to work between us because we’re too different.’ Sasuke gazed down for a moment. ‘It’s your turn now. I’ve told you I love you and I want us to work and I’m willing to do anything to make it happen. How do you feel? Be honest, are you only here with me because of that big kind heart of yours? You pity me in my weak state, but as soon as I am fully well, you’ll be gone again?’

Naruto stared at his own hands.  When he spoke, he spoke slowly. ‘Do you remember what Itachi had in his briefcase, all those papers about a new venture thing?’

‘Yes,’ Sasuke said.

‘He explained it to me, what did you think of his ideas?’

 ‘I only saw the overview, none of the details. And it is your turn to speak and say what _you_ think.’

‘When I say he explained it to me…I mean, I was kinda freaked out and worried about you so I didn’t get it all…there was a lot about branding, rebranding, brand management, a whole new brand…I didn’t really get the importance of that. But I got the general gist that Itachi thought we were smarter than we turned out to be, and that as a partnership we’d be working together, instead of yaknow, us carrying on doing our own things and being embarrassed by each other. He seemed to think that your association with me would give you…believability? Credence? I can’t remember what word he used, but something about how you could break off with authority from the main family and set up a new firm with green credentials as Itachi says that’s where the future is. And he said, how instead of me acting like your wealth is some kind of evil burden, I could’ve been using my knowledge and contacts to guide you to the best investments. Like with me and Kiba planning what to do with the divorce payout.’

Sasuke flinched when Naruto said ‘divorce’. The blonde reached out and stroked his husband’s forehead.

‘I mean, I think Itachi meant, that it makes no sense that I'd take your money when we split up to buy a woodland with Kiba, but when we were together, I acted like it was cursed and worked all those odd jobs to fund my activism because it felt wrong to ask you.’

‘Hnnnn.’ Sasuke turned his head on the pillow away from Naruto’s touch. ‘I’ve always had money. My upbringing has taught me that you never have enough, your life goal should be to strive for more because being richer makes you better than all the people around you who aren’t as successful. But everything I have is yours. If you want to spend it all buying some useless pieces of woodland, I don’t care. If you want to leave the money untouched in some unethical bank while we survive at base level like you and your friends do, I don’t care. All I want is you by my side for the rest of our lives.’

Naruto chuckled and reached out and stroked Sasuke’s hair, tangling his fingers in the dark locks. ‘I’ve never known you this compliant. Maybe Uchihas need to be sneezed on more often or something, being ill makes you almost like a normal human. But tempting as it is, I’m not going to test you to see how long you’d last living in my flat and having to squeeze into the bathroom to get some privacy to give me these daily blow jobs you promised. Please don’t throw this back in my face when we get back to our normal arguing, but I kinda like your richboy arrogance. I like how everyone is scared of you because you walk through the world like you could set it all on fire with a click of your fingers. It makes me confident being with you. And it does make me hella hot knowing that I’m the chosen one who gets to see the icy cold powerful Uchiha squirming around in bed.’

‘I don’t _squirm_. I never _squirm_.’ Sasuke honoured Naruto with one of his famous icy cold powerful Uchiha glares.

Naruto beamed. More than all the talking, Sasuke’s familiar expression made him certain that his husband was really feeling better.

‘When you get the all clear from the doc, I’ll fuck you in front of a mirror so you can see for yourself, just how much you do _squirm_ , Sasuke Uchiha.’

‘Do you mean that?’ Sasuke’s voice was undisguised yearning.

‘Definitely a mirror. And I might film you too, so you can watch it back and admit that I can make you writhe, wriggle, and squirm, as much as I want.’

Sasuke sat bolt upright. ‘Naruto! I know your emotional defence is to deflect through joking, but be serious for me here! Are you staying with me? Are you moving back in? None of this fuck buddy crap, are you going to be my husband again?’

Everything that had happened, not just today, but from the moment he opened that fur coat, all the disappointment, the loneliness, the pain came crashing down on Naruto. ‘Sasuke, I’m tired. I need to get some sleep. Can we talk more when I’m properly awake?’

Sasuke stared at him with wide desperate eyes.

Naruto's heart stuttered. His body tingled with sudden nerves. Could him and Sasuke survive the pain of trying again...and the possibility of failing again? Sasuke had been so vulnerable today, and Naruto was too aware of the toil this separation was taking on his own mental health.

‘I really need to sleep. I'm not deflecting or anything. I'm just totally exhausted. Do you need some space...I can sleep in the chair…or the spare room?' Naruto gazed at his husband. He had to say it. There was no other way. Whatever the risks and the likely pain, he realised it was impossible for him to fully believe that him and Sasuke weren't meant to be together. 'Or...I could...if you're well enough...share the bed? ’

‘You don’t have to ask. You know.’ Sasuke ripped the covers back for Naruto to come and lie down beside him.

Naruto undressed down to his boxers, then he met Sasuke’s eyes and after a long moment pulled his boxers off too.  He’d almost always slept naked with his husband, but he stopped Sasuke’s hands when the Uchiha tried to take his own sleep clothes off.

‘I said we’d fuck when you were definitely better, not before, and I want to keep to my word.’

‘Being naked together is loving, it doesn’t have to be sexual,’ Sasuke argued.

Naruto laughed. ‘Don’t pretend you haven’t noticed how hard my cock is just at the thought of sleeping next to you, even though my brain's trying to tell it how ill you are. And even though my body is so tired I know I’ve always got hidden energy for fucking you.’ He lay down in bed and hugged Sasuke against his chest. ‘Let's just be close now. We’ve got plenty time for sex, we’ve got the whole of our lives. I’m going to be demanding my marital rights when we’re old wrinklies, be well warned, I’ll be dropping Viagra into your salads.’

Sasuke snuggled against Naruto. ‘I’m looking forward to it, Naruto Uchiha.’

‘Me too, Sas, me too.’


	6. Epilogue

Sasuke wasn’t doing as much work as he normally did. He kept looking up from his laptop across at his husband working on the other side of the desk. Sasuke had made a barrier across the centre with various stationary items, but Naruto’s mess still migrated over. In their large house, Naruto hadn’t only refused having a study of his own, but had insisted that they shared a working space too. Sasuke had grumbled more out of habit than anything else, the pleasure of his husband’s presence far outweighed the annoyance of his clutter.

Often Sasuke found he worked better, having Naruto close calmed his mind and he was able to immediately check anything that was red flagged by his team as having potential ethical problems. He was still occasionally surprised by how enjoyable it was discussing business with the blonde and having Naruto being interested rather than watching his eyes go blank within the first few seconds.

Sasuke had still been unsure when Kakashi had given them a challenge at one of their counselling sessions that involved taking Naruto to a business lunch. But Itachi had entirely backed Kakashi’s suggestion, and the older men had been correct. Sasuke’s heart had sank when Naruto turned up wearing his usual casual outfit, but he’d immediately started a conversation about the difficulty of finding clothes that hadn’t been produced by child labour and hadn’t been flown three times around the world. Not in the angry combative voice Sasuke had heard so many times, but in a warm encompassing tone that somehow drew everyone into empathising and discussing the problems of morality in a globalised culture.

What Itachi had seen immediately turned out to be true, Sasuke and Naruto complemented each other perfectly. People who would not have been convinced by Naruto’s business insight, and would dismiss him as an idealist, trusted Sasuke’s hardnosed efficiency and impeccable money making track record. Others who would never have even agreed to a meeting with an Uchiha, trusted Naruto’s long history of activism and were won over by his undeniable conviction.

Their success together was an obvious happiness, but Sasuke had a secret pleasure in constantly learning more about his amazing husband. He knew Naruto had a never ending supply of friends in his own group (who all seemed to be constantly visiting and staying for unspecified holidays), but Sasuke had been astounded, by Naruto’s charisma and skills in making friends with people he should naturally be opposed to. He didn’t know if it was a change and growth in his husband, or just a side of his husband that had never been able to develop with all the Uchihas being so openly hostile to him at social gatherings. But because of Naruto’s charm and his instinct at understanding people, their first major investor had been Orochimaru, a man who saw poor people as a golden resource and ran a complex network of bribery to keep anyone official looking too carefully into his experimental facilities. Sasuke had warned Naruto that Orochimaru was using them as a front to draw attention from his other activities. But Naruto had insisted that Orochimaru was on some sort of journey of atonement, or at least was intrigued by the idea of approaching life in a different way. And it had been true, shockwaves had been sent through the community by Orochimaru pulling out of big Pharma and instead becoming obsessed with the science of delivering clean water to deprived communities across the world.

Likewise, Sasuke had always known Naruto was smarter than he sometimes appeared, but it was a private delight to watch his energetic talkative spouse spend hours silently buried in textbooks and writing essays, determined to get official qualifications so he could give Sasuke the best advice, and the keyword he had picked up from Itachi, provide extra _credibility_.

Today Sasuke was not working efficiently though, he was gazing across at Naruto thinking how cute the blonde looked chewing on the end of a pencil as he frowned down at the book he was reading. Although how much Naruto could read with Kurama stretched across it was another matter.

Sasuke had managed to restrain himself for almost an hour, but now he picked up the nearest report to him, something about Carbon capture, which he knew Itachi considered a potential goldmine if they could get in early enough with the right company, and walked around the desk.

‘I know you’re busy, honey, but I’d really appreciate your input about this. Itachi wants to move as quickly as possible.’

Naruto took it and started spewing excitedly about the possibilities of taking bad gases out of the atmosphere in the rapid voice he always used when he’d been quiet for any period of time. But they both knew by the fact that Sasuke hadn’t simply passed the report across the desk, had called Naruto ‘honey’, and was still standing close to his husband, what Sasuke was truly interested in.

‘I can’t really progress with anything while I wait for you to read it, so I’m going to take a break.’ Sasuke pushed Naruto’s chair away from the desk and dropped to his knees in front of his husband.

Naruto’s pupils enlarged with immediate and visible lust, but he tried to brush Sasuke’s hands away from his fly. ‘You know you don’t have to keep doing this daily blow job thing, Sas, it was something you said ages ago when you were ill and we were going through that rough patch and…’

‘Oh, I so do.’ Sasuke’s hands expertly darted past Naruto’s feeble attempts at defence, undid his zip and released Naruto’s beautiful cock.

‘I was talking to Jiraiya when we were doing the toad collection, carrying them across the busy roads, that was lots of fun by the way, you should have come and Jiraiya said…’

Sasuke looked up at Naruto with a raised eyebrow. All he wanted to do was suck Naruto bone dry, but he couldn’t let this pass.

‘Yes. Tell me what Jiraiya said. We agreed to keep seeing a counsellor Naruto, but _never_ a sex therapist.’

They hadn’t exactly agreed. One of Naruto’s conditions on moving back in had been that they saw a counsellor as they had so many issues and needed professional guidance. Sasuke had hated the idea but had been incapable of denying his returning husband anything. Except Naruto had been happy with any of the ones they’d already seen, apart from Kakashi as puzzle rooms made him feel stupid, and Sasuke didn’t feel comfortable with anyone they had seen, apart from Kakashi, whose air of disinterest had chimed with the Uchiha. They’d tried new and more traditional therapists, but Sasuke had hated them all and sat in stubborn silence. Without telling each other, to make amends for his bad attitude Sasuke had booked a session with Gai, and to try and encourage Sasuke, Naruto had booked a session with Kakashi. So they’d ended up with a strange situation that somehow suited them, where they alternated between over the top exercise sessions with Gai where he lavished constant praise on them, and bickering with each other about all their petty gripes while Kakashi ignored them and read his book.

Sasuke could see no logical reason why it helped them, but it had become an integral part of their relationship. And over time Kakashi and Gai had become two of their closest friends, nowadays they saw them more often outside the counselling sessions than in the professional setting.

But the focus now was on Jiraiya. Someone Naruto totally adored and Sasuke forced himself to tolerate though he could never get past the fact that Jiraiya knew a little about their intimate life and had been the one Naruto had confessed to about being a virgin.

‘Jiraiya isn’t really a sex therapist, it’s just his speciality…’

‘Which makes him a sex therapist,’ Sasuke said. His tone wasn’t as sharp as it might have been if Sasuke’s hand hadn’t begun busying itself by stroking up and down Naruto’s quickly hardening cock.

‘Okay, if you want to say that, but then doesn’t that mean his advice is worth listening to? Don’t get yourself all worked up for no reason though, I didn’t say anything personal, he was just talking in really general terms about how a period of abstinence can sometimes be a really positive thing for a couple, so they don’t start taking each other for granted and…’

‘Believe me, I am not taking you for granted. I fully live and appreciate every single second we’re together.’ Sasuke leaned in close to Naruto’s erection flicking his tongue around the head in a teasing caress that he was confident would put any ridiculous notion of abstinence out of the blonde’s head.

Naruto gave a gratifying moan, but didn’t pull Sasuke in as he often did in these moments.

‘Not you, bastard, me. I’m worried you’ve been giving me so much pleasure for so long that I’ll get too used to it.’

‘I want you to be used to it. I want you to love your life with me and never have any doubts that I am the only man that can make you happy.’ Sasuke reached up and caressed the back of his hand under Naruto’s chin.

Naruto entwined his fingers through Sasuke’s. ‘I know that. But do you know that I am all yours? I’ve been thinking lately and I am worried that you might still be scared that I’ll walk out on you again?’

Before Sasuke could answer, Naruto’s phone rang . Sasuke moved faster than Naruto, pulling it out of the blonde’s pocket, checking caller ID, before switching the device off and throwing it to the side.

‘It was just Ino.’

Naruto opened his mouth and Sasuke put his hand over it.

‘No. You don’t need to call her back. She’ll just talk to you for hours about Sai and why he hasn’t returned her calls. Who knew that setting up a supposedly bi, but obviously completely gay, man who’s still obsessed with you, with a lonely therapist who finds me sexually attractive, on the dubious basis that Sai looks like me if you squint, and Sai needs serious help understanding people, wouldn’t create a stable lasting relationship? Oh, I did. Because I am not an idiot.’

Naruto laughed. ‘You’re a funny guy. But seriously I need to ring her back, it’s my fault she got into it, so the least I owe her is giving her someone to talk to.’

‘You’re not supposed to become your counsellor’s counsellor.’ Sasuke’s eyes flickered with a will of their own back to Naruto’s cock. ‘Leave it for now, and I promise I’ll help you set up a successful date for her with Kiba.’

‘Kiba? My Kiba?’

‘Yes, that Kiba.’ Sasuke swallowed his irritation at Naruto so casually referring to another man as ‘my Kiba’. ‘We’ll make him smell less like a dog, and it’ll work out, I guarantee it.’

Naruto paused but then grinned and nodded. ‘I don’t see it, but I trust your judgement, so I’ll go for it.’

‘Good. Now let’s get back to what matters.’

‘The possibility of developing Carbon capture technology that’ll be able to keep global temperatures from rising?’ Naruto gave his sunniest smile.

Sasuke was almost tempted to rise to Naruto’s baiting and zip his husband’s jeans up and have an entirely work based conversation. But a single glance at his husband’s hard on was enough to make him know there was no chance of that happening. Damn Naruto for having such an irresistible, delicious cock.

Sasuke wanked his hand with new purpose up and down Naruto’s erection. ‘Close. But I was thinking more along the lines of how hard and fast I can make you come.’

‘Not fast, Sas, I want it to last please…no, no, I don’t mean that…don’t distract me yet…I asked you a proper serious question…before Ino interrupted…I need the answer…are you still scared I’m going to leave you?’

‘Of course there’s a part of me that’s terrified we won’t work out. You’re my whole life, Naruto. I’ve never loved anyone but you. The pain I felt when you left almost broke me. But being with you has taught me to follow my heart more, and if I know anything in this mad world, I know that you’re mine. So if you ever have another temper tantrum and walk out on me, I’ll chase you down and drag you back here until we sort it out. I’m not going to ever lose you again, not for a single day.’

‘Ditto! If you ever have a grumpy sulk, I’ll pester you until you shout it all out and together we’ll mend each and every problem.’

Sasuke gazed up into Naruto’s bright blue eyes and found it hard to believe there could ever, or had ever, been any problems in their marriage. Somehow, despite never doing anything to deserve it, he’d found and married his perfect man.

They smiled at each other for a long time, before Sasuke opened his mouth and slid it down the length of Naruto’s cock. Sasuke listened to Naruto's moans of pleasure, felt his husband's hands gripping the back of his head, breathed in the blonde's warm scent and tasted the hot pre-cum dripping onto his tongue, and every fibre of his being was alive with happiness. He’d always been better with actions than words. And he knew no better way of expressing exactly how grateful he was that the universe had gifted him this man. And more miraculously, Naruto had gifted him a second chance to experience the pure beauty of loving someone who loved him back just as madly and completely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for sticking with and reading my whole story, I really hope you enjoyed it and it was worth your precious time. I know the chapters ended up being quite long, so I appreciate your patience in getting through it all.
> 
> This was always planned as a story with these two getting back together, I am crossing fingers it was satisfactory and made sense. I am incredibly grateful for all kudos and feedback. Thank you for all the encouragement, I'm trying all the time to become a better writer, although sometimes my confidence is super low and I do get nervous posting what I write.  
> I've still got a brain buzzing with fanfic ideas and lots of stories I want to write, so all being well, I'll soon continue with my next project on here.
> 
> Keep happy, well, lemony and fluffy, and may all the angst in your life be what you read in these fics x


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